Irish MMA body defends safety codes

The Irish Mixed Martial Arts Association (IMMAA) — the body seeking to have itself appointed as the governing body for mixed martial arts (MMA) here — has defended the measures it is implementing to make fights safer.

Less than five months after the death of Portuguese fighter Joao Carvalho in an MMA fight with Charlie Ward at Dublin’s National Stadium, documents have emerged which show the serious concerns the Irish Martial Arts Commission has about the way MMA fights are currently fought here. The commission is the body which has been asked to consider taking MMA under its control.

However, in a letter to the International Olympic Committee, the commission compares MMA to dogfighting and says it is about people being “physically damaged”.