Carlos Ulberg's victory represents the 20th UFC championship won by fighters from Australia and New Zealand, though officially recorded as 19 because the UFC removed title status from the Whittaker-Romero rematch when Romero missed weight, despite Whittaker making weight. Per capita, Australia and New Zealand lead all regions with one UFC title per 1.6 million population, ahead of North America (2.3 million), South America (6.3 million), Russia/CIS (8.3 million), and Western Europe (11.6 million). The region's combat sports success extends to boxing with current and former world champions Jay Opetaia, Joseph Parker, George Kambosos, and Tim Tszyu. At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Australia ranked fourth in gold medals with 18, while New Zealand ranked 11th with 10 total medals despite being the least populated country in the top 20. The post attributes these achievements to superior sports science and well-developed cultural infrastructure, citing UFC Performance Institute director Roman Fomin's assessment of Australian sports science as possibly the world's best.
