"Under very, very serious consideration" - Eugene Bareman explains why team City Kickboxing is thinking of moving to the USA
City Kickboxing head coach Eugene Bareman has explained why the team is considering relocating to the United States in the future.
At UFC 266 this past weekend, Eugene Bareman oversaw both Dan Hooker and Alexander Volkanovski coming out on top in their respective fights. The excellence of City Kickboxing once again came into sharp focus.
However, the week wasn’t without its setbacks. Due to issues obtaining a US visa, Hooker was forced to fly out on Thursday for his Saturday bout, seriously harming his preparation in the process.
Look after your sporting heroes New Zealand because they could soon be gone from our shores. Dan Hooker’s drive to get the win at UFC 266 has been uplifting for so many, I’m sure we can agree it was worth trouble he went through to get there. https://t.co/hRvQjdiHRL
Eugene Bareman recently made an appearance on Submission Radio. When addressing the rumors surrounding a future move to the United States, which have been discussed by both Hooker and Israel Adesanya, Bareman had the following to say:
“Everything is only in the preliminary stages. It’s under very, very serious consideration, that’s probably a better way to describe it. We made the move after the government supposedly made improvements to the MIQ booking system, the immigration booking system so you can come in and out of the country. The 'improvement' was not an improvement at all, in fact there’s an argument that it was even worse.
"That’s when we had to kind of take a step back and seriously consider moving. We’ve been operating under these circumstances for two years since Coronavirus hit now and we’ve kept the ball going. But as a rough estimate, we’ve probably had half the amount of fights we should’ve in the last two years. Which means they’ve all got half as much money, they’ve got half as good as they would’ve. Across the board, we’re operating at a rough estimate of 50%. We just can’t continue to do that. It seems to me that a move is pretty imminent.”
Catch Eugen Bareman's appearance on Submission Radio below:
The Eugene Bareman effect
There are very few coaches out there who could ever hope to achieve what Eugene Bareman has achieved in his time with City Kickboxing. From world title success to rising contenders making a name for themselves and beyond, he has been at the forefront of this incredible movement in the last few years.
Alas, with the pandemic still raging across the globe and New Zealand being one of the strictest countries when it comes to travel, it appears as if Eugene Bareman is set on making this move a reality. If it actually goes down, then we can expect to see the City Kickboxing boys in action far more frequently.