UFC Perth was supposed to deliver a showcase for Australian MMA. Instead, much of the attention went away from the fights and toward the stands, where a massive “beer snake” became the night’s unexpected star. That tells a lot about how supporters were feeling.

From the prelims to Tai Tuivasa‘s crushing seventh consecutive defeat after losing to Louie Sutherland, the card struggled to build momentum. Slow fights, decisions, and poor performances surely left sections of the crowd looking for entertainment elsewhere.

So they did what stadium crowds sometimes do best: create chaos out of boredom. Empty beer cups began stacking into one another, row after row, forming a gigantic winding snake that passed overhead through the arena, with fans cheering louder for this than for what was going on inside the cage.

To make things more interesting, or somewhat indirectly embarrassing, the UFC, too, ended up sharing the clip on social media.

However, what the UFC’s social media team did not take into consideration was the fact that for many watching online, it was proof that not just them, but even fans in attendance were bored at the underwhelming event. As a result, the reaction was brutal.

Several fans called out UFC Perth as the event that will go down as one of the worst, leaving fans to entertain themselves instead. As this fan wrote, “They gotta find something to do since the cards been so underwhelming & their boys keep losing.”

More joined in on the criticisms with tweets such as “This is f—— embarrassing for the UFC on so many levels” and “How bored is the crowd with this card?!”

Many others directly took aim at the clash between Tai Tuivasa and Louie Sutherland at UFC Perth, a fight that wasn’t just boring to watch but also got called out for alleged bias by the referee.

So, it’s no surprise fans showered more hate towards it online. “Better than the Bam Bam fight,” one fan wrote. Another added, “Yeah, this was more interesting than Tai Tuivasa vs Louie Sutherland.”

And somehow, that also became the perfect symbol of the night. While critics slammed the quality of the UFC Perth card, many fans embraced the absurdity of it all. “Perth primetime hitting different,” a fan wrote. “This is peak 💀,” said another.

In a strange way, the beer snake elevated a flat event to a memorable one. UFC Perth will be remembered not because of great fighting, but because the Perth crowd refused to let boredom win. If the action inside the Octagon didn’t go viral, the stands found a way to do so themselves. But if you ask Alexander Volkanovski, it will be the day his teammate got snubbed.

Alexander Volkanovski calls out referee for missing tap at UFC Perth

UFC Perth featured more than just beer snakes and crowd antics, at least for Alexander Volkanovski. While fans found entertainment in the stands, ‘The Great’ remained focused on what he saw as a costly officiating error involving his teammate Colby Thicknesse.

During Thicknesse’s bout with Vince Morales, the Australian locked up a beautiful submission sequence, flowing from a triangle choke into an armbar. During the transition, it appeared Morales briefly tapped, but the referee missed it and allowed the fight to continue. However, Alexander Volkanovski was quick to react.

“I knew I seen a tap!” Volkanovski wrote on X.

For him, this was more than just a missed opportunity. It may have cost Colby Thicknesse a win on his record and the kind of bonus money that can make a big difference early in a fighter’s UFC career.

In the end, ‘Slickness’ still got his hand raised after winning via unanimous decision, so the mistake had no effect on the outcome. But this doesn’t erase the frustration.

On a night when much of UFC Perth felt chaotic and disappointing, ‘The Great’ believes his teammate should have had a clear statement win—and the referee’s missed call took that opportunity away from him.