Elias Theodorou - I became MMA's first ever ring boy for gender equality

Elias Theodorou is making his Invicta ring boy debut this weekend. Here's why...

Elias 'The Spartan' Theodorou is an MMA fighter from Toronto with an impressive 6-2 UFC record. He's also making sporting history by becoming MMA's first ever male ring card holder. In fact, he's actually trademarked the term 'ring boy'. 

He's been open about the fact he's going to be earning money through sponsorship and is hoping his ring-boy status will be a key part of his brand. Yet those aren't the only reasons he's decided to take on this new challenge. We chatted to him about what else has driven him to form his new career.

My first time as a ‘ring boy’ was at a small regional show, called Montreal Fight Week.

Honestly, I was more nervous to be a ring card holder than I was going into my last fight. In a fight, I’m able to just be me. For my first appearance as a ring boy I stepped out of my comfort zone and also, to be honest, I was a little worried about what people would think.

It went really well. I think people may have given me some leeway because of my profile as a fighter, but, also, because I did it with a little bit of class and respect to the profession, I made sure I didn't distract from the event.

We made a video of that debut,, external and, I showed it to Shannon Knapp, the president of Invicta – which is an all-female fight league. She loved it. She and I spoke about the next Invicta event and about potentially making a long-term plan for my addition to the Invicta team as a ring boy.

I’m making my Invicta ring boy debut at Invicta 28, on 24 March.

There’s a wider conversation at the moment around ring card carriers, 'grid girls' in Formula 1 and 'walk-on girls' in darts. Given that wider conversation, I thought this was really pertinent.

My whole goal in this project is to show that, in my belief, the answer to increasing equality is to create more options, not fewer.

One of the consequences of getting rid of ring-card holders would be to put people out of work – a lot of whom do that job because they want to. There are lots of ring-card carriers in UFC specifically who have leveraged their platform in many great ways – from becoming models, to showcasing their skills in other areas too.

For instance, Britney Palmer is not only a ring-card holder, but also very talented artist. She’s really managed to leverage her position to further her artwork. I don't think that would have happened if she wasn’t a UFC ring card holder.

For the past few years, UFC and MMA in general have been at the forefront of equality, in my opinion. We’ve seen women like Ronda Rousey transcend the sport – never mind just be a face for the sport - whilst remaining a champion for the longest period. She’s also been able to leverage the success she’s had in that UFC career to go beyond UFC.

For me, the addition of ring boys is just another way to even the playing field in another area of the sport. I think we’re on the right side of history.

The response so far has been, I’d say, 70-80% positive. Some people don’t get it, but that’s okay. Anyway, those who know me will know that I put out a pretty positive conversation in general. When people troll me for other things, I show them kindness.

I don’t think this diminishes me as a fighter. I still train every day. If my next opponent wants to take me lightly, it’ll be a bad day for him.

I also want to show that there are many different types of fighters. I’m not that big, bravado, macho individual. In fact, I'd say I'm humble. In my sport, the day you think you know everything is the day you get your ass kicked on national TV.

Some of the criticism of ring card holders is around sexualisation. I completely understand that it is and has been an issue. I don’t think sexuality has to be a negative thing as long as it comes from a place where the ring card holders feel empowered by what they're doing. If a person is beautiful, we can appreciate that - as long as it doesn't cross a line where people are made to feel vulnerable.

The female card holders at Invicta wear athletic pants, rather than short shorts. At Invicta 28, I’ll be wearing shorts, with a shirt that opens at the front.

At the same time, I also plan to make a body positive calendar. MMA has many different weight categories and I plan to feature them all. That will further an idea of positive body imaging. 

I’m excited for my ring boy debut at Invicta 28. This is not going to be a one-hitter and done – I plan to do this with lots of events going forward.

I’m also hopeful that it will catch on. Whether it’s other MMA fighters or just other men in general, I implore more people to get involved with this.

As told to Ciaran Varley

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