Considering he refers to himself as “The Mane Event”, Elias Theodorou’s next venture probably isn’t all that surprising.
The finely-coiffed UFC middleweight announced Monday on The MMA Hour that he has been recruited to act as a “ring boy” for Invicta FC 28, which takes place at the Union Event Center in Salt Lake City on March 24.
You read that right: Theodorou will soon be following in the footsteps of world famous Octagon girls like Arianny Celeste and Brittney Palmer, proudly holding a number over his head to let the fans know what time it is.
“Mixed martial arts has been at the forefront of equality in many different ways,” Theodorou told Ariel Helwani. “You can see in regards to women being on top of pay-per-views and selling millions and also now myself included as the first ring boy.”
Fortunately for Theodorou, he won’t be completely unprepared as he gets ready to strut his stuff cageside. Earlier this month, the 29-year-old Canadian made his ring boy debut at a small show in Montreal, an event that will be uploaded to his soon-to-be-launched YouTube channel.
The next time he shows out, it will be broadcast live to a much larger audience on the UFC’s Fight Pass service. With added exposure comes benefits, including the chance to represent several sponsors that would typically be forbidden for a UFC fighter appearing on one of their shows.
When Theodorou circles the Invicta cage, he won’t be restricted to just wearing Reebok.
“I’ve talked to (Invicta FC president) Shannon (Knapp) and I will be allowed to put all my sponsors on my shorts and beyond that all the local sponsors that I have like Fuel Foods, and HPN, which I’m going to be doing a campaign for, essentially show and performance, because I’m hoping to fight in April in Atlantic City if all goes well,” Theodorou said. “I’m going to be ring boy ready and then fight ready in just a couple of months.
“And more importantly, I have really large brands that are going to be jumping in. I’m the world ambassador for Mattel and I work with them promoting Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em robots and they also love the whole idea of the equality and the openness to actually put yourself in this position. And I’m actually going to be partnering, if all goes well, with Barbie for ring boy and I will be ‘Man-Bun Ken’.”
As for who Theodorou would like to fight in Atlantic City on April 21, he named middleweight veteran Thales Leites as his ideal opponent. In his most recent fight, Theodorou defeated Dan Kelly by unanimous decision to improve his UFC record to 6-2.
Theodorou is no stranger to taking advantage of opportunities outside of the Octagon. He also works as a global ambassador for Pert, will soon produce and star in a movie in which he plays a fighter who is forced to transition from MMA to eSports, and he and girlfriend Max Altamuro were contestants on the Canadian version of The Amazing Race back in 2015.
With so many pigs on the iron, it’s a wonder that “The Spartan” still finds time to train, but he insisted that fighting remains his passion even as he works to secure his future.
“I love mixed martial arts,” Theodorou said. “I’m a huge believer in the fighter’s journey, I love traveling and training. My last fight was in Australia. I’ve been to Thailand and Brazil and everywhere in between, learning and growing. You only live once, to quote the immortal words of Drake, but I want to build my brand beyond fighting because this is a platform and this is an opportunity and yours truly doesn’t want to get hit in the head forever.”
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