Carlos Ulberg's title victory marks the 20th UFC championship won by fighters from Australia and New Zealand. The analysis counts the Whittaker-Romero rematch as a title defense despite the bout losing official title status due to Romero's weight miss. Per capita, Australia and New Zealand lead all regions with one UFC title per 1.6 million population, ahead of North America (1 per 2.3 million) and Russia/CIS (1 per 8.3 million). The region's combat sports success extends to boxing with current and former world champions including Jay Opetaia, Joseph Parker, George Kambosos, and Tim Tszyu. Australia placed fourth in the Paris 2024 Olympic medal count with 18 golds despite having only 27 million population, while New Zealand ranked 11th with 10 medals from just 5.2 million people. UFC Performance Institute director Roman Fomin has stated that Australian sports science is among the world's best.
