Richard: Sam is my firstborn – my only child with Lisa. I later remarried and had three more children. I think we get better as parents as we go along. Sam might feel like he broke me in for his siblings. As a kid, he was very sporty, very social and very engaging. From my point of view, he has always been great company. To this day, one of the joys of my life is hanging out with Sam.

All my kids learnt how to play golf at a very young age. Sam became a good golfer – really good. Much better than me. He might have felt that I was disappointed when he gave up the idea of playing professionally. I mean, yes, a little. But I could see that it was really frus­trating for him, trying to get to the place he wanted to get with golf.

There’s something confronting about your child telling you they’re going to do mixed martial arts. I definitely had questions. First, is this dangerous? Obviously, one has a concern about head injuries. But according to Sam, the sport regulates that side of it pretty rigorously. There are risks of other injuries – broken limbs and the like – but you could get those playing footy or a range of other sports.

Secondly, I wanted to understand, where does this lead? And I’ve felt comfort in the ­answer to that question as well. Sam loves the world of mixed martial arts and, in that world, he’s making a living. What pays the bills for him is running classes and working in the gym. It’s a job that makes him happy: how good is that?

‘I’m absolutely ­yelling and screaming at the screen, “YOU BEAUTY!” ’

Richard Marles

I spent election night at St Albans Football Club [in north-west Melbourne]. We’d arranged that there was an area I could go to, in a ­corner, to watch Sam’s fight. This was, unquestionably, the biggest fight of his career. He went in as the underdog and I was feeling nervous for him. I knew how hard he’d worked, and what winning the fight would mean to him.

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Halfway through the final round, I’m thinking this thing is really in the balance. Then Sam knocks the other guy down. I’m absolutely ­yelling and screaming at the screen, “YOU BEAUTY!” Everyone else at the event is ­looking at our corner and thinking, “We’ve obviously won some booth somewhere.” They thought I was calling the election in that ­moment because I was totally losing it. But for me, the election was way off in the distance.

Afterwards, the extent of Labor’s win ­started to become apparent, and the euphoria of that started mixing with the euphoria of Sam’s fight. I woke up the next morning and thought, “I just had the most awesome dream.” Then I realised it had actually happened. A really, ­really great night.

People say, “What’s it like, having a son who does mixed martial arts?” I say, “Well, one thing it proves is that you have absolutely no say over what your kids do. Or at least, I don’t.”