UFC middleweight Elias Theodorou took on a side job as “ring boy” at Invicta FC 28 in Salt Lake City. Was it harmless fun? A meaningful step towards gender equality? Or just an attention-getting gimmick that stole the spotlight from the female fighters? Retired UFC and WEC fighter Danny Downes joins MMAjunkie columnist Ben Fowlkes to debate.

Downes: Ben, you might have noticed something different about Invicta FC 28. It was the debut of Ring BoyElias Theodorou. The UFC fighter donned some Invicta FC shorts and an open vest last night and ensured the crowd at the Union Event Center knew what round it was. In an interview with the BBC, Theodorou said he was doing it for gender equality. Is that the message you got from it?

It certainly brought some extra attention to the event, which I suppose is a good thing. At the same time, though, it’s a man taking some of the shine for himself at an event that’s supposed to be focused on women.

Is there are larger statement or purpose behind this gimmick, or are we nitpicking? There’s nothing wrong with having a little fun. Right?

Fowlkes: My hope with the ring boy thing was that, with a man doing the job, fans would be better able to appreciate that the whole concept of having someone in a bathing suit show you a card with the round number on it is totally ridiculous (especially in MMA, where it’s not like bouts have so many rounds that you even have a chance to get confused).

It’s a dumb tradition, in my opinion. It’s a holdover from a combat sports era when the only roles for women were as eye candy during the brief lulls in violence, and while it doesn’t even make my top 10 list of things I’d change about MMA, I’d have no objection if the entire practice just went away.

Did Theodorou’s performance bring anyone over to my way of thinking? I doubt it. I think what happened is that the people who are generally inclined to be into Theodorou’s brand of self-promotional antics enjoyed this departure from the norm, while the people who aren’t didn’t. And honestly, I can understand both sides.

On one hand, Theodorou is a bright, engaging fighter who is accessible to fans while not taking himself too seriously. It’s easy to like a guy like that. I also can’t help but respect a man who’s secure enough to actively seek out this job, since he had to know there would be some backlash coming.

On the other hand, he wasn’t traipsing around in a speedo, which would be the true male equivalent of the ring girl uniform. He wore a vest to give himself more sponsorship space to sell, and that tells you something.

Did he attract attention to this event? Yes. Did he also siphon some of it off for himself, in the non-stop promotion of his own personal brand? Definitely. But isn’t that kind of what we’re always telling pro fighters to do?

Get out there and promote yourself, man. Get noticed! Well, here you go.

I can’t get mad at him over it. I’m also not going to run out there and high five him for it. But I do wonder, if you were one of the fighters on this Invicta FC card, would you be into this gimmick? Or would you feel like someone was stealing your shine and making a joke of things outside the cage while you were pouring out your blood and sweat in pursuit of your dreams inside it?

Downes: I don’t know how Invicta FC fighters feel. Maybe someone should ask them.

The problem, though, is that if any of them did have a problem with it, they’ll probably keep it to themselves. That’s because whenever women speak up to voice their complaints about anything they’re immediately branded as “femi-nazis” or any of a dozen other pejoratives. If you don’t believe me, just look at Invicta FC commentator Julie Kedzie’s Twitter timeline for a couple of minutes.

Theodorou is engaging, that much is for sure. He’s popular in the MMA Twitter bubble because of that and because of his “woke” views. You’re not mad at him because you respect the hustle, and that’s fine. We should still realize it’s a hustle, though – not in the sense that he’s disingenuous about his beliefs, but that this was about Theodorou building a brand. It had nothing to do with equality. And even if it did, it was an externality.

The man has a degree in advertising, and he used it. Was Pepsi really thinking about Black Lives Matter when it made that infamous Kendall Jenner ad? When the NFL slaps some Susan G. Komen stickers on its products, are they really concerned about women’s health?

As for a Ring Boy (he did trademark the term after all), being a symbol of something greater, I’m very skeptical. It reminded me of the “Hire More Women Guards” meme: A nominal show of diversity instead of discussing the underlying issues.

Is this Theodorou’s fault? No, but like you said, we shouldn’t be handing out high fives either.

Is there a lesson to be learned from this? I don’t think so. Unless the lesson is that if you’re traditionally handsome and charismatic, you’ll be afforded a lot of business opportunities. And that doesn’t seem too revelatory to me.

Fowlkes: One thing it makes me wonder about is the overall health of Invicta FC. I remember when I went to Invicta FC 3 to write this behind-the-scenes story on the promotion’s rise back in 2012, and company president Shannon Knapp explicitly told me that she’d never do the ring boy thing because she thought it would make her promotion out to be a joke.

Fast-forward six years later, with the UFC continually raiding Invicta FC’s rosters to fill out its own, and maybe the pressure is on to find some way – any way – to get people to pay attention.

But you’re right to point out the role Theodorou’s looks played in all this. As a father to two young girls, I’ve watched enough Disney movies to know that he looks exactly like a handsome cartoon prince come to life. As far as I can see, Theodorou is Flynn Rider, arguably with better hair. If he looked like Rafael dos Anjos, who is more often compared to Franken Berry, I don’t think he would have scored this gig.

So in that sense, at least, there’s some equality for you. Fight promoters don’t hire many ugly ring girls, so why should that standard (basically the only standard for a job whose core requirements include walking while holding a sign) be altered for men?

Then again, the ring girls don’t get to put on a vest decked out in personal sponsors. If they did, I wonder how many fans would see their enthusiasm for the tradition diminish a little more with every article of clothing added.

Ben Fowlkes is MMAjunkie and USA TODAY’s MMA columnist. Danny Downes, a retired UFC and WEC fighter, is an MMAjunkie contributor who has also written for UFC.com and UFC 360. Follow them on twitter at @benfowlkesMMA and @dannyboydownes.