Paul Kimmage says he is ‘repulsed’ by ‘barbaric’ sport of MMA

Not everyone was celebrating Conor McGregor's epic knockout victory over Chad Mendes. Journalist Paul Kimmage is known for his very strong and stubborn opinions regarding a wide-range of sports and he gave a blunt assessment regarding his feelings about MMA. While admitting that he had some curiosity about the sport, his overriding emotion watching it was not positive.

"I'm intrigued by it, and I've been asking for a long time, do we engage with it?," Kimmage said on Today with Sean O'Rourke. "Because there is a lot of pantomime in it. It's barbaric and I'm repulsed by it. I've watched it and I'm repulsed by it. I'm thinking, should the mainstream media engage with this? Clearly, he has got a lot of support."

Without generalising too much, the view expressed by Kimmage is held by many people, particularly of an older generation. However, the Sunday Independent contributor did acknowledge that the support base for the sport is building. "You can't deny there is a huge interest in it."