Government minister feels MMA could get funding if properly recognised as a sport

Politics can be very boring.

But if you are an MMA fighter in this country, then you should really take a keen interest in this month’s General Election as a government minister admits the sport you are involved in should be recognised by the proper authorities. Pascal Donohoe, who is the current Sports Minister, feels the hard work put in by Conor McGregor, Joseph Duffy and Catherine Costigan, among many others, means that MMA is very much a legitimate sport, and it should be seen as such. Currently the Irish Sports Council does not include MMA, or its representative body, the Irish Amateur Pankration Association, in its list of sports organisation in this country which receives government funding. The Fine Gael deputy, speaking to The Journal.ie, feels that MMA should be brought under the Irish Sports Council umbrella and achieve official recognition.

"Mixed martial arts can only be entitled to funding if it is recognised as a sport. In order for it to be recognised as a sport, it’s something that the organisers of the sport themselves will want to see happen, and it’s something that the Sports Council themselves will have to decide on." “I think we’re a long way away from that at the moment. My own view is that I do believe it is a sport. I do believe that it’s a very extreme support and it’s not to everybody’s taste. But I do believe it’s a sport because everybody who gets into the octagon does so on the basis of consent.

Pascal is not a fan of the sometimes brutal nature of MMA himself as he admits, but can see the attraction for fans, as well as those who get into an octagon in the UFC.

“It’s not something I can easily look at myself. There’s too much aggression in it for my own liking and I particularly struggle when I see a man or woman down on the canvas being hit repeatedly by somebody else. “But all that being said, what McGregor has done and the way he’s moving himself forward is an extraordinary achievement for him. And while it’s not something I can easily watch myself, I understand why others enjoy it and I do believe it’s a particularly extreme sport that I think is likely to become a bit more mainstream in the coming years.”