ufc girls
THE MUCH-LOVED Octagon Girls could be banned from a UFC event in Australia next month after a politician claimed the tradition was "outdated".

Similar to boxing, mixed martial arts deploys scantily-clad females to parade around the cage prior to each round at their events.

That has led to the likes of the beautiful Chrissy Blair, Brittney Palmer, Arianny Celeste and Jhenny Andrade all becoming huge favourites with fight fans across the globe.

However, ahead of UFC 243 at Melbourne's Marvel Stadium on October 6, Dana White's promotion is facing calls for the "sexist and backward" custom to be axed.

And Lord Mayor of Melbourne Sally Capp is leading the charge.

She told the Herald Sun: "It's 2019, do we really still need scantily clad women to wander around the middle of a fighting ring between rounds?

"Grid girls are no longer part of Formula One, walk-on girls are no longer part of professional darts - surely it's time to move on."

Grid girls were banned from last year's F1 Grand Prix in Melbourne with walk-on girls later being axed from the darts world championships.

Now Capp is receiving plenty of support in her quest to put the Octagon girls out of work.

A spokesperson for Victorian premier Daniel Andrews said: "The Grand Prix did the right thing in ending the use of grid girls and we encourage other events to make similar moves."

The attempted stand against UFC comes after ring girls were barred for a bumper boxing event last weekend.

Former world champ Jeff Horn lost to Michael Zerafa at the Battle of Bendigo in Victoria.

But pre-event, promoters decided to replace the females with a man to perform the pre-round duties following fierce criticism from councillors and women's advocacy groups.

Trio Tammy Bills, Demey Maconachie and Kalista Thomas were all axed in favour of "fight progress managers" - a man in trousers and a shirt.