Super League: Why are Wigan and Warrington playing in Las Vegas?
Whilst in Las Vegas, all teams involved have used the UFC’s Performance Institute as a training hub
“The UFC is a huge brand in Las Vegas and this is home for us,” senior vice president of performance at the UFC Dr Duncan French told the BBC.
“When these teams were looking for training spaces and how to prepare for gameweek – whether that’s recovery, strength and conditioning sessions, film study, catering – we can do that all under one roof so it was a no brainer for lots of these teams.”
In addition to three domestic fixtures between the NRL and Super League taking place, England’s Lionesses will face Australia’s Jillaroos for the first time since the 2017 Rugby League World Cup.
The fixture is primed to help women’s rugby league develop, however England will be hoping to do better than the 38-0 thrashing they were handed the last time they met Australia.
Part of the charm of using the UFC facility is sharing knowledge across sports, something French says has been particularly useful.
It’s always great to get other sporting codes to be around our athletes so they can see how others prepare,” he added.
“There’s a lot of synergy between rugby league and fighting, particularly with the demand on the body and there’s a huge psychology component going into tackling or wrestling takedowns.
“The guys and girls have been sharing ideas and how they train. The brand of the UFC is strong in rugby and the teams coming in are all fans of the UFC so it’s been a great week for everybody.”
