The UFC featherweight champ won’t be in the running for the keys to his hometown any time soon because the mayor has a serious axe to grind with mixed martial arts.
Alexander Volkanovski may be recognized around the world as the current pound for pound greatest MMA fighter, but he won’t be getting any special appreciation from his hometown of Wollongong. At least not while the current mayor is in power, anyway.
Wollongong is a city in New South Wales, Australia, and there’s no denying Volkanovski is a true representative of “The Gong.” He lives there. He trains there. He breaths Gong air and he watches Gong sunrises and sunsets. But according to the Lord Mayor of Wollongong Gordon Bradbery, Alexander “The Great” is a bad influence that doesn’t reflect the peaceful spirit of Wollongong.
The city of Wollongong regularly gives a key to the city to notable individuals from the area it feels has achieved excellence in their chosen field. There’s no denying that applies to Volkanovski, who has climbed to the very peak of arguably the toughest sports mountain there is. But Bradbery is no fan of mixed martial arts, so Volk is out of the running.
“I have a responsibility as the lord mayor of the city and as a responsible human being not to endorse those things which are violent,” he told ABC News when explaining the snub. “It is against everything we stand for in our community in terms of violence and promoting violence.”
“It is really important that we put a message out to young people and more specifically now with brain trauma on the agenda,” he continued. “What sort of endorsement is this if I put that nomination forward when his profile is supporting an activity like that?”
We shouldn’t be too surprised at Bradbery’s reaction to MMA. The old coot is 72 years old and was a church pastor before getting into politics. While our sport has largely been accepted in North America, Australia still has periodic hit pieces in the press written about mixed martial arts, blaming it for all the violence going on in the streets: from bar brawls (real culprit: alcohol) to sucker punches (real culprit: degenerate cowardice).
So for now, Alexander Volkanovski will have to live his life without the keys to the city of Wollongong. We figure he’ll make due with his millions of dollars, the five featherweight title defenses, and the worldwide recognition as one of the best ever. And if he needs some keys, he does have the keys to Shellharbour, the town where he grew up. The less stuffy city awarded those to him in 2020 after he won his first championship.