{"id":582831,"date":"2026-04-03T12:09:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T12:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/582831\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T12:09:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T12:09:09","slug":"scotlands-chris-duncan-wants-to-bring-tartan-shorts-to-the-ufc-octagon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/582831\/","title":{"rendered":"Scotland’s Chris Duncan Wants To Bring Tartan Shorts To The UFC Octagon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chris Duncan leans into home\u2011country pride, fatherhood and the strange duality of being a \u201cbarbarian\u201d in the cage and a dad at home as he prepares to face Renato Moicano in the main event of UFC Vegas 115 at the UFC Apex. The Scottish athlete is looking to bring a pair of tartan shorts into the UFC one day.<\/p>\n

Chris Duncan On Scottish pride, flag and tartan shorts<\/p>\n

Duncan has made his Scottish roots<\/a> part of his walkout identity, wrapping himself in the imagery of his upbringing around Glasgow. He talks about growing up in Scotland with clear attachment to the landscape and traditional symbols such as bagpipes, which he says still give him goosebumps and a sense of \u201csheer pride\u201d when he hears them. Representing a national team in rugby in France earlier in his sporting life helped crystallize what it means to him to wear his nation\u2019s colors in competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of my favorite things of growing up in Scotland would obviously be the scenery and the kind of patriotic symbols that we have, like the bagpipes. They always bring me chills; they always bring me sheer pride. Playing sports for your country and representing your country, I always hold that near and dear to my heart and that\u2019s why I wear the flag.\u201d<\/p>\n

He laughs at the current limitations of UFC gear, noting that the promotion will not let him change his shorts color unless he changes his listed country, which he refuses to do. Duncan says he would rather keep the black, white or blue options that come with being registered as a Scottish fighter<\/a> than swap his flag to match a different palette. Still, he has a clear vision for the future:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe UFC don\u2019t allow you to change your shorts unless you change your country to match the color. I wanted a different color maybe two camps ago. I was like, I\u2019m not changing my flag. Why would somebody do that? You\u2019re supposed to be representing your country. I\u2019m Scottish, so I\u2019m going to have to deal with the black, the white or the blue shorts. But if Dana White<\/a> watches this, I\u2019ve got a little bit of a design for my shorts \u2013 I want tartan shorts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Renato Moicano vs Chris Duncan is a classic experience\u2011versus\u2011momentum matchup, with Moicano bringing years of elite lightweight and featherweight action against names like Rafael dos Anjos and Islam Makhachev<\/a>, and Duncan riding the confidence of a main\u2011event breakthrough and a grinding, pressure\u2011heavy style built on forward movement and power combinations. <\/p>\n

Moicano vs Duncan headlines UFC Vegas 115 on Saturday, April 4, 2026, at the Meta APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The switch from father to \u201cbarbarian\u201d<\/p>\n

Duncan frames his Octagon<\/a> persona as a switch rather than a permanent identity. At home he is a father and husband; inside the cage he describes himself as a \u201cbarbarian, an animal, a fighter\u201d who intentionally lets his restraints fall away. He says that during sparring, especially with MMA gloves, fighters are expected to hold back, pull punches and avoid genuine knockouts, while the rules of fight night let him treat each exchange with \u201cvicious intent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a different person to many different people. I\u2019m a father, I\u2019m a husband. How can I differentiate myself from walking into the cage and being a barbarian, an animal, a fighter, and then go home to my kids and my family? It\u2019s the same thing with this fight. I\u2019ve got a switch. I\u2019m numb when it goes in there and I\u2019m also free. When I walk into that Octagon I let the chains off. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn sparring rounds, especially with MMA gloves, you\u2019re pulling your punches, you\u2019re not hitting hard, you\u2019re not trying to knock people out, whereas when I walk into that Octagon I can let these chains off and throw with vicious intent \u2013 and that\u2019s what I\u2019m going to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"LAS VEGAS, NEVADA \u2013 DECEMBER 06: (R-L) Chris Duncan of Scotland punches Terrance McKinney in a lightweight fight during the UFC 323 event at T-Mobile Arena on December 06, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Unger\/Zuffa LLC)<\/p>\n

Duncan\u2019s kids are old enough to notice that their father is recognized in public, and he counts that as a sign that he has stepped into a different tier of visibility. He recalls a moment when he was with his daughter alone and declined a photo request because he did not want to hand her off to a stranger, even briefly, to hold her while he smiled for the camera. That kind of small interaction shapes his priorities far more than any highlight\u2011reel strike.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy daughter kind of recognizes, like, \u2018Why does Dad get stopped in the street and why do people want pictures?\u2019 I remember I was with my daughter and only my daughter. I\u2019m not a fan of taking a picture when there\u2019s not someone to hold my daughter or look after her because I\u2019m away from looking after her, and a guy said, \u2018She could take it,\u2019 and I was like, \u2018No, that\u2019s not happening.\u2019 The only thing I care about is if she thinks I\u2019m a good person. Whether I\u2019m a good fighter or not, as long as she knows I\u2019m there for her 24\/7.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

He talks about the long\u2011term messages he wants to pass on to his children, emphasizing that he would rather they call him in a difficult or risky situation than fear his reaction. Duncan wants to be the person they can trust to come collect them, even if it means some inconvenience, because that trust matters more to him than any belt or ranking.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I want to instill is that no matter the situation in her life, if she\u2019s out drinking and thinks, \u2018I can\u2019t phone my dad, he\u2019ll kill me,\u2019 I would rather her phone me and understand that I\u2019m trustworthy enough to go and pick her up. That\u2019s what I need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ahead of UFC Vegas 115, Duncan\u2019s focus remains on the immediate task of beating Moicano in 25 minutes, but the way he describes his role as a Scottish representative, a gym\u2011trained teammate turned opponent and a father first shows that his main\u2011event moment is layered with far more than just results.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chris Duncan leans into home\u2011country pride, fatherhood and the strange duality of being a \u201cbarbarian\u201d in the cage…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":582832,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-582831","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-mma","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=582831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582831\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/582832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}