Safe MMA – Ireland’s Statement to the Irish MMA Community

“To the Irish MMA Community,

Irish MMA has come on leaps and bounds in the last few years. We have some of the world’s top fighters in our midst, North and South of our Island. The general public are learning about us and more parents seem willing to let children give MMA a try.

Promotions are the life blood of Irish MMA. They provide a platform for competition and they are the public face of the sport. Promotions also carry legal responsibilities for fighter safety. There is a view that, in some cases, fighter safety has not kept pace with the levels of professionalism attained in other areas of MMA such as fighter training, coaching techniques, diet and media buzz.

By many objective measures, Ireland is massively behind countries of the developed-world where the sport of MMA is not banned.

As many of you know, the SAFE MMA initiative has been widely adopted and hugely successful in the UK since launching in February. Promotions approved by SAFE MMA get this approval because they have demonstrated verifiable levels of quality and safety. SAFE MMA works with these promotions and their fighters to achieve this. This includes blood testing for infectious diseases (e.g. HIV, hepatitis), an annual full medical examination, pre- and post-fight medical assessments, appropriately qualified cageside medics and paramedics, and easy access confidential advice from SAFE MMA professionals.

It is with great pleasure we can announce that Irish fighters and promotions now have the option of signing up to SAFE MMA-Ireland. We believe that this is WIN-WIN. Win for fighters as they are assured of high standard safety during fights and win for promotions as they get the help they need to maintain safety from SAFE MMA’s organisation.

We are very happy to have professional promotions such as BattleZone and CageWarriors are already on board. We encourage other promotions to join and we encourage clubs and fighters to choose SAFEMMA approved events.

SAFE MMA-Ireland is a not for profit project. The cost of membership covers the cost of the organisation…nothing else. None of the professionals/ volunteers are paid fees or expenses and no one makes money from this.

Yours in combat sports,

The SAFEMMA-Ireland task force.

Aisling Daly (Fighter Liaison), Rodney Moore (MMA coach), Tim Murphy (MMA coach), Dave Jones (Senior referee), Joe Clifford (Cutsman), Graham Kenny (Solicitor), Dan Healy (Neurologist)