liam ward, should he be banned? Chaos threads merged.

tubz

does any1 else agree dat dis tube should b bannd 4m our sport? domz beats him and then ward head buts domz, wat a ****in dick, my mob is 07845374775. incase sum1 wants a discusian

tubz

It was spoiled mostly by the bad reffin?

Tim_Murphy

tubz wrote: »

does any1 else agree dat dis tube should b bannd 4m our sport? domz beats him and then ward head buts domz, wat a ****in dick, my mob is 07845374775. incase sum1 wants a discusian

Seriously, when did they stop teaching English in school?

Tim_Murphy

tubz wrote: »

It was spoiled mostly by the bad reffin?

What happened?

tubz

Tim_Murphy wrote: »

Seriously, when did they stop teaching English in school?

Edited ridiculis comeback.

Tim is right, Text speak helps no one and is hard to read for old people like me and tim and people wont read it so your point gets ruined.

tubz

he stood friel an doherty up, whilst friel was controlin da fyt

irishbhoyo

So what were the final results? Anything else major happen?

McManus

irishbhoyo wrote: »

So what were the final results? Anything else major happen?

Bantamweight A class
Paddy Doherty (EFR) versus Darren Friel (Strabane)

Doherty won by corner stoppage

75kgs (compromise) A Class
Dominic McConnell(Strabane Fight Team) versus Liam Ward (Evolve)

McConnell rear naked choke 1st round!

Featherweight A Class
Shane Thomas (Kokoro) vs Johnny McGillion(Strabane Fight Team)

Shane Thomas kimoura


Welterweight C class
Ramunas Venslovas (Maynooth Shoot Fighters) vs Gavin Carlin(Evolve)

Carlin won

Middleweight C class
David Lorenzo (Maynooth) vs Micky McBride(Strabane Fight Team)

Lorenzo ko 2nd round

80kgs C class
Ciaran Gillen (Kyoujin) vs Gary 'Cool Cat' Carlin Evolve)

Gillen guillotine round 1

72kgs compromise C class
Ronnie McConnell (Elite Fighting Systems) vs Graham Doherty(Evolve)

Doherty by referee stoppage

Show was spoiled by crowd and some bad refereeing, At least 2 fights were a fighter was controlling a fight working for a move and it was stood up! Its mixed martial arts ground work had to be allowed for as fighters work for their positions then try submissions! The McConnell Ward fight lived up to its hype the 2 squared up as ward entered the ring and ref had to control them! No touching gloves just straight to action crowd was going mad and referee had to stop the fight for a few minutes to have the crowd calmed down!! McConnell then won the fight by RNC as he was celebrating Ward came over and sunk the head in him causing a brawl wer several people entered the ring and the show had to be stopped for 20 minutes to calm everything down!

GSPfan

McManus wrote: »

Shane Thomas kimoura (Some awful reffing instead of a warning for a punch to back of head stands the fight up as Johnny was in full mount)

At no point was this fight stood up. Johnny got full mount and Shane turned over to give up his back and then ended up in Johnny's guard. The only stoppage was to check on Johnny's cut above his eye. And that was done while Shane and Johnny were scrambling for position against the ropes so no real advantage gained or lost. It started back on its feet.

Best fight of the night by a mile.

The whole Warde v McConnell fiasco was shameful.

GSPfan

Who's gonna ban him tho? Chaos is his clubs show so are they gonna ban him? Most likely not.

koking

I honestly didnt see any problems wit the referee,shane and johnnys fight was a cracker and couldve went either way several times,as for the doherty friel fight it was another great fight,dohertys experience and size showed through but friels ground game is dangerous as hell,best gaurd i've seen in a long time on a local show always threatening and dangerous thought he had the triangle at one stage but doherty escaped and landed some vicous ground and pound.As for the ward and mc connell fight mc connell in my opinion fought a smart fight and won well but but it was an absolute disgrace to sport what happened after the fight.spoiled a good night

DeadlyByDesign

Absolute disgrace so it was. Ward is exactly what the sport does not need and conduct in the ring on both fighters parts was disgusting! In one night they single handedly ruined the reputation of Chaos. Also the reputation of MMA In Ireland is on the razors edge at the moment. To ordinary Joe Soap coming there last night for his first show to see that fiasco??

Both fighters should be reprimanded in some way. Could not believe what I was seeing last night. Reminded me of a WWE event. Fight of the night was the Shane Thomas fight. Only one that actually had any skill in it.

John Ferguson

tubz wrote: »

It was spoiled mostly by the bad reffin?

Who was the Ref??

koking

Peter Lavery,I cant say i seen anythin wrong with his reffing

Campbell M

That was my next question also. The normal refs at Chaos are the best refs around so i would be surprised if they made any big mistakes.

Also, Tubz seems like a bit of a knob. He creates a new account, nobody knows who he is, and he types like a 4 year old.

What happened in Darren's fight? Did they throw in the towel?

koking

darren got badly pounded near the end of the 2nd round and think his nose may have been broke and his corner pulled him out then

Campbell M

koking wrote: »

Peter Lavery,I cant say i seen anythin wrong with his reffing

Well, Peter and Aiden are great refs.

Given tubz general attitude and typing ability i am now of the opinion that he is a disgruntled 12 year old who knew someone who lost a fight.

Also, the headbut sounds pretty shameful. That is disappointing but i wouldnt say it has ruined the reputation of chaos since it wasnt anythign to do with the organisation of the event. Without Chaos and Strabane there would be no local shows so it still has my support.

Campbell M

koking wrote: »

darren got badly pounded near the end of the 2nd round and think his nose may have been broke and his corner pulled him out then

Ouch, well i hope he is ok.

weemate

I was the ref John so let me answer,as usual,any critics of my job.
Firstly I'll address the main event of Paddy and Darren.Darren had paddy's back and had him stretched out,because of this none of his strikes were hitting ANY sort of target most of them were infact hitting the canvas,just,I may add,as Paddy's were when he had the same position near the end of the second round.I stood both fighters up because of this and because the fight was going stale.Now the fact that both of the guys that have an issue with my reffing come from the same team as both losing fighters may have a slight bearing on your posts.
The fight in question,although called as a ref stoppage,was infact due to Darren not wanting to come out for the final round.That surprised me to be honest but it is between Darren and his corner team.
The second fight between Cecil and Shane was stood up so that a cut above Cecil's eye could be checked.In my opinion it was in an area that would cause difficulty as the fight went on.The cut was treated by the corner team and I allowed Cecil to continue.The result was a tap out....nothing to do with my reffing.
Iam not going to discuss anything or give an opinion on the fiasco that accompanied the Ward / mc Connell 'fight' but suffice to say the crowd had a part to play in that.
In the rules meeting I told all the fighters that if their 'fans' approached the ring I would stop the match up until the crowd were seated.The ref is easly distracted by outside influences such as cornermen banging on the ring/cage or running round the area and when distracted a fighter could get hurt or a submission missed etc etc.As soon as the Crowd incroached on the ring,I stopped the fight as per my instruction.What happened afterward was nothing short of a disgrace.I just hope that some people have the good grace to offer a formal opology to both Jason and John.

Valmont

Campbell M wrote: »

Given tubz...typing ability

It's completely ridiculous to harass someone over their command of English. This also happened in another thread. You two are obviously far too narrow minded and condescending to realise that many different age groups use boards and that they may not have had, for whatever reason, access to as privileged an education as you have.

If they are indeed being lazy and using text speak then suck it up and leave it to the moderators.

Liam Ward, whoever he is, is a complete knacker by the sounds of it. A stain on the MMA scene in this fine country.

John Ferguson

weemate wrote: »

I was the ref John so let me answer,as usual,any critics of my job.
Firstly I'll address the main event of Paddy and Darren.Darren had paddy's back and had him stretched out,because of this none of his strikes were hitting ANY sort of target most of them were infact hitting the canvas,just,I may add,as Paddy's were when he had the same position near the end of the second round.I stood both fighters up because of this and because the fight was going stale.Now the fact that both of the guys that have an issue with my reffing come from the same team as both losing fighters may have a slight bearing on your posts.
The fight in question,although called as a ref stoppage,was infact due to Darren not wanting to come out for the final round.That surprised me to be honest but it is between Darren and his corner team.
The second fight between Cecil and Shane was stood up so that a cut above Cecil's eye could be checked.In my opinion it was in an area that would cause difficulty as the fight went on.The cut was treated by the corner team and I allowed Cecil to continue.The result was a tap out....nothing to do with my reffing.
Iam not going to discuss anything or give an opinion on the fiasco that accompanied the Ward / mc Connell 'fight' but suffice to say the crowd had a part to play in that.
In the rules meeting I told all the fighters that if their 'fans' approached the ring I would stop the match up until the crowd were seated.The ref is easly distracted by outside influences such as cornermen banging on the ring/cage or running round the area and when distracted a fighter could get hurt or a submission missed etc etc.As soon as the Crowd incroached on the ring,I stopped the fight as per my instruction.What happened afterward was nothing short of a disgrace.I just hope that some people have the good grace to offer a formal opology to both Jason and John.

Thanks Peter!!!!

John
www.fight.ie

Campbell M

Valmont wrote: »

It's completely ridiculous to harass someone over their command of English. This also happened in another thread. You two are obviously far too narrow minded and condescending to realise that many different age groups use boards and that they may not have had, for whatever reason, access to as privileged an education as you have.

If they are indeed being lazy and using text speak then suck it up and leave it to the moderators.

Liam Ward, whoever he is, is a complete knacker by the sounds of it. A stain on the MMA scene in this fine country.

If I thought him typing this way was because of a lack of education I would be far more understanding but I doubt he thought 'fyt' was the correct way to spell fight. It is pretty commonly known that 'text speak' is not allowed here in fact i believe it is in the rules/stickies.

Also, my main concern with him was that he appears to have only registered to complain (badly) about the chaos show (i see you removed 'general attitude' from the quote).

This is all irrelevant now anyway since he has been banned.

GSPfan

It was one of the strangest shows I've ever seen. Actually it was by far the strangest show I've ever seen.

Peter did a great job trying to control the weirdest of situations. I thought I was at a pro wrestling event. From strange fights to crowd interference and head butts. And a rather funny situation with a fighters entrance music being played for the full song without him coming out! ha.

Just to clarify something tho for people who weren't there...... CHAOS is normally a great event and in this instance it was ruined by one fighter and a handful of people in the crowd and I would not blame CHAOS for the actions of those people.

ginoginelli

tubz wrote: »

Edited ridiculis comeback.

Tim is right, Text speak helps no 1 and is hard to read for old people like me and tim and people wont read it so yourpointgets ruined.

lol at cowzerp correcting tubz's spelling with more bad spelling.

Mrs Lynch

It is with regret that I hav to post to express my absolute discuss at Liam Ward - I never want to see this boy in MMA again. He ruined a wonderful show and could jeopardize the future of our sport.

I had actually deducted a point before the fight had started for his antics. To go into a ring and face-off McConnell was bad enough but hand jestures and groin jestures really annoyed me, there was children in attendance. Yes every fighter can be reared up but this was way OTT. McConnell is no shrinkin violet and I knew this was a hyped up fight. To bite ur opponent and then when u tap go over and headbutt him is just not what this sport is about, he actually put his hand out to Dominic:mad:

This was a totally unprofessional fight and could cost us dearly:mad: I personally felt sick to the gut. Chaos is a great show and Jason and John are two of the nicest gentlemen I know - they built this show from the ground and this guy cud solely destroy it but I urge us to stick together in MMA - a ban must be imposed its without question but dont judge one nite on a mindless idiot!

I will go further to say that a ban also should be imposed on Don "The Barber" - this guy is meant to be coachin Liam on his ground game - he needs to coach himself in discipline - well out of order jumpin into the ring and attemptin to attack the other corner. You are not familar to me nor would I want you to be and feel absolutely furious at your individual behaviour. He actually shouldve been ejected in the early seconds of the fight as he woz been quite aggressive around the ring.

Last nite woz a great sporting nite tarnished by thuggish behaviour. I ask forgiveness from those who attended the sport and arent regular this is not what happens in Irish MMA and should never be tolerated.

Mrs Lynch
xxx

Mrs Lynch

Thanks to Jason and John we had an excellent array of fights!

My favourite fight was definately Jonny McGillion and Shane Thomas. Excellent work by Jonny but Shane should his true ability and experience we he took his opportunity great fight lads.

Loved Gorey and Brennan - Brennans heart was unreal and he had rattled Gorey but Gorey had a game plan and worked it!!!

Paddy and Darren - perfect and never gonna be an easy fight! These two wer unbelievable and Paddy was unsuccessful in ended the fight on a few occassions when Darren was relentless. Unbelievable ground game from Darren and Paddy - well done you ended a note on the way MMA is supposed to be excellent;)

Mrs Lynch
xxx

cowzerp

Officially he cant be banned but the questions are who will let him on there show? and who would support such a show that lets him on it?

I was not there so cant comment on the whole affair but headbutting someone is unacceptable under any circumstances bar self defense.

The other question that needs to be answered is will he be let to continue to train with his present club or will the coach accept that his position is untenable and he must be made an example of..

Its a sad day for MMA when our own people are proving the nay sayers right by acting in this manner.

_oveless

Wouldn't be too hard for the people who run Chaos to contact the other promoters and blacklist this guy. I mean who would want a guy like that on their card?

Raze_them_all

Mrs Lynch wrote: »

Thanks to Jason and John we had an excellent array of fights!

My favourite fight was definately Jonny McGillion and Shane Thomas. Excellent work by Jonny but Shane should his true ability and experience we he took his opportunity great fight lads.

Loved Gorey and Brennan - Brennans heart was unreal and he had rattled Gorey but Gorey had a game plan and worked it!!!

Paddy and Darren - perfect and never gonna be an easy fight! These two wer unbelievable and Paddy was unsuccessful in ended the fight on a few occassions when Darren was relentless. Unbelievable ground game from Darren and Paddy - well done you ended a note on the way MMA is supposed to be excellent;)

Mrs Lynch
xxx

Any clips of this fight? Unfortunately I had to work and couldn't go

calex71

Maybe someone could be good enough to spell out the facts of what took place here for the less informed amongst us

But from reading what was posted so far :eek:

The Chisel

I was at this show last night, and as an in independent observer, here are my thoughts:

McManus wrote:

Shane Thomas kimoura (Some awful reffing instead of a warning for a punch to back of head stands the fight up as Johnny was in full mount)

This simply didn't happen. Fight was stood up to check a cut on Johnny.

I thought the reffing was spot on - there were a few times where the crowd were chanting for it to be stood up (mainly when it was someone from Strabane fight team in trouble), and luckily the ref didn't let this influence him, as a stand-up usually wasn't necessary in those instances.

Positives:
* MC was good, although lacking natural charisma & struggled with some wording during the post-fight interviews - good job overall though.
* Reffing was good. He showed good authority and wasn't influenced by dumb crowd chants.
* Sound & video & lighting was good. Nicely executed for a small budget operation.
* Some great fights - Shane Thomas vs. Johnny McGillion was my favourite. Great technical bout, with some nice take-downs & reversals by Thomas. I really thought it was going to be stopped when Thomas was mounted and getting pounded on - but he gave Johnny his back, Johnny went in for the RNC, Johnny rolled onto his back, and Thomas spun out into Johnny's guard - nicely done, IMO.
* Approachable friendly staff.
* Fighters all acted professional & courteous (except one - see below).
* Nice touch having the fight card and a flyer for the Cage Wars show on every seat - simple promotional technique that often gets overlooked.


Negatives:
* Atmosphere slightly spoiled by that complete knacker 'Ward' - I assume he won't be used again - what a scumbag. McConnell & his corner were a class act in responding to this situation.
* You should really announce the hometown of each fighter. A lot of people don't know where the clubs originate from (except Strabane & Maynooth, obviously).
* 20min wait for last fight - very frustrating. Would have been less annoying if the MC had told us WHY we were waiting, and an approximate waiting time.
* Someone needs to be organising the fighters backstage, so they're ready to come out. Too much waiting with fighters not ready.
* The ceiling - way too low, and creates a claustrophobic feel. Didn't affect the fights, but still far too low, IMO.
* Venue was too small - standing room only. I guess it's good for the promotion having a great attendance, but maybe move it somewhere bigger next time, & with a higher ceiling. I paid £25 to stand for 3 hrs, and the row of people in front of me were standing on chairs, making is very awkward to see anything. Security need to sort this.
* People were standing in the doorway talking, making it very hard for people to get in & out of the actual hall. What a dumb place to stand - security should be keeping the doorway clear, as it was the only way in & out. This is how fights start: when drunk people try to push past other drunk people, and someone nudges or pushes someone accidentally, etc.
* No explanation given for the absence of Fight #5.
* Another small grievance: the Chaos FC website is almost unfindable on Google. When I search for "Chaos MMA derry" (+ other various combinations), I only find a boards.ie thread.


But overall, I enjoyed it. The negatives listed above can be easily fixed, and Chaos FC have proven they can put on a solid card.

Would I go back? Probably not - nothing to do with Chaos FC, but I just hate the wannabe tough-guy crowds that attend MMA shows in general. All the hard-man walks are so pathetic. It's just not a nice atmosphere to be in.



FYI - I saw that "tubz" guy there last night. He was wearing a Tapout top similar to the UFC cut-guy "Stitch" - except his said "tubz". Lame on so many levels.

Devastator

The Chisel wrote: »

FYI - I saw that "tubz" guy there last night. He was wearing a Tapout top similar to the UFC cut-guy "Stitch" - except his said "tubz". Lame on so many levels.

Was tapout spelt correctly?

The Chisel

calex71 wrote: »

Maybe someone could be good enough to spell out the facts of what took place here for the less informed amongst us

But from reading what was posted so far :eek:

Events in order:

• McConnell came to the ring.
• Ward came to the ring, jumped over the ropes, and went straight up to McConnell & got in his face.
• McConnell pushed him away.
• Ref stepped in to hold them apart.
• Fight starts, and they go at it: McConnell wins with RNC after approx 2mins.
• Ward hops straight up, and goes over & head-butts McConnell - kinda side-on.
• McConnell starts punching Ward, and both corners hop into the ring.
• Fat bird from Ward's corner hops up on apron & tries to get into the ring to create more drama. She yells like an idiot & tries to swing at McConnell & his crew.
• Scuffle continues inside the ring, as security try to pull people apart. Hard to tell who is who at this point.
• Situation is eventually diffused by ref & security.
• McConnell & his corner stood back & showed good retrain, considering they were the ones who got assaulted. It was Ward & his corner that were being held back at this stage,
• Ward starts throwing "let me at him" shapes in the ring, as do his corner, acting like a bunch of tools. And I distinctly remember some pudgy guy on the apron in a shirt, jeans & grey cardigan trying to act hard. Throwing 'hard-man' shapes as he got down. I LOL'd at this guy.
• Ward & crew left & went into the back.
• McConnell & crew left through the crowd, and went out a different exit.

chopperbyrne

So there was no biting involved like someone said earlier?

Still sounds like the fighter and his corner team should be banned though.

The Chisel

chopperbyrne wrote: »

So there was no biting involved like someone said earlier?

I didn't see any.

Mrs Lynch

When Peter repositioned the fighters after seperating them in an attempt to calm the crowd Liam bit Dominic:(

I also omitted to say when the trouble ensued someone from Wards camp pulled the hair out of a young girl aged 12 (who they thought was an official at the show - child is merely sporting the t-shirt of her club!!!)

Mrs Lynch
xxx

T-K-O

Tim_Murphy wrote: »

Seriously, when did they stop teaching English in school?

+1

How annoying is that.

_oveless

Mrs Lynch wrote: »

When Peter repositioned the fighters after seperating them in an attempt to calm the crowd Liam bit Dominic

I also omitted to say when the trouble ensued someone from Wards camp pulled the hair out of a young girl aged 12 (who they thought was an official at the show - child is merely sporting the t-shirt of her club!!!)

Mrs Lynch
xxx

Insane. I'm at a loss for words.

The Chisel

Mrs Lynch wrote: »

When Peter repositioned the fighters after seperating them in an attempt to calm the crowd Liam bit Dominic:(

Okay - I missed this.

UFR Management

The solution to this is simple - he should be banned from training at his club, as should any fighter who conducts him/herself unprofessionally inside/outside the gym.

angeldance

Hi,

I was at the show lastnight doing ringgirl and I also train in Evolve and tbh I didn't see anything wrong with the reffing. I think Peter did a great job. Jason and John put alot of time and effort into these shows and their fighters and I think it was a really good show apart from the incident with the McConnell and Ward fight. I have to say I couldn't believe it happened as having trained with Ward and seen him training hard I couldn't believe it when it happened.

There were some really good fights and I actually liked the atmosphere up until that second last fight, but thankfully the crowd had calmed down by the last fight. There were some exciting fights and I think apart from that one incident the show was a success.xx

colinlaird000

I think this thread actually raises an interesting point. I was cornering at the show and saw the incident, which in my opinion is totally shameful. Most of the fighters i know are true gentlemen, who go out, get the job done and are the first to congratulate their opponent regardless of the result. Is there any legislation regarding what happens when fighters continue the fight after the bell? How do we control this, and who is responsible? If a sportsperson plays in an unsporting manner, they go before an impartial board. Its possible that things that happen within the sporting arena go beyond the sport.. If mixed martial arts continues to grow, having this sort of control over the conduct of fighters is imperative. Without any controls, we have seen that anything is possible. I think both with the crowd and fighters we have to put their conduct into context of what would happen at any other professional sporting event. In fact, with the nature of mixed martial artsbeing honest in the terms of what you see is what you get, we nearly need to be setting examples of good practice.
Finally, well done to the fighters who had the guts to put themselves forward to fight, and acted accordingly. In the majority, there was a high standard of technical ability and sportsmanship. Lets ensure we remind any onlookers that this is what we are about.

GSPfan

I surely don't blame CHAOS for Liam Wards actions (This time). I'm just wondering what's gonna happen now in terms of Ward fighting again at this event. After all, he is an EVOLVE fighter and CHAOS is EVOLVE's event. Surely no coach will put a fighter in with him again if CHAOS allow him to fight at this event.

The Chisel

colinlaird000 wrote: »

Is there any legislation regarding what happens when fighters continue the fight after the bell? How do we control this, and who is responsible? If a sportsperson plays in an unsporting manner, they go before an impartial board. Its possible that things that happen within the sporting arena go beyond the sport.. If mixed martial arts continues to grow, having this sort of control over the conduct of fighters is imperative.

MMA is unregulated in Ireland. And if a governing body was set up, it would need to be backed by the government & have proper legislation attached. Otherwise, any suspensions it may decide to impose on fighters, for whatever reason, could just be ignored - and then what? Nothing! They would have no legal power to stop that fighter working anywhere he/she wanted.

Roper

I proposed a nationwide promotions agreement earlier this year, then I promised to work on it a bit which I've been too busy to do. There's no necessity for government recognition, just an acceptance that all clubs, promoters etc. band together and come up with a policy for safety, weight classes and the like. If that happens, then there would be a list of regulations for shows to follow and of course, this may well include banning fighters who have broken rules or have not conducted themselves in the correct manner. Whether that be a life ban, 6 month ban, 1 year ban or whatever.

I actually don't know the fighter in question and this was the first I had heard of him. So I suppose the first thing I'd say that if all this is true, then why let some nobody ruin a good show? Accentuate the positive on this one by all other accounts this was a show full of decent fights with one moron in the middle.

Who knows what was going through the fella's head but it is a shameful act. However what would also be shameful would be to enforce a ban before all the facts were in and he had a chance to explain himself. Perhaps there were extenuating circumstances, which of course wouldn't excuse the act in itself, but it would seem fair to allow him or his gym to speak out.

The Chisel

Roper wrote: »

I proposed a nationwide promotions agreement earlier this year, then I promised to work on it a bit which I've been too busy to do. There's no necessity for government recognition, just an acceptance that all clubs, promoters etc. band together and come up with a policy for safety, weight classes and the like. If that happens, then there would be a list of regulations for shows to follow and of course, this may well include banning fighters who have broken rules or have not conducted themselves in the correct manner. Whether that be a life ban, 6 month ban, 1 year ban or whatever.

What's to stop a promotion deciding not to subscribe to your policy? What's to stop a new promotion starting up and ignoring your policy & using who they like? Nothing. It's a great sentiment in theory & I appreciate your integrity, but it simply won't work, as you have no power to enforce your policies & rules.
They have been trying this for years in the UK with Pro Wrestling governing bodies. All attempts have failed. Promoters do what they like, and nobody can stop them.

Roper

The Chisel wrote: »

What's to stop a promotion deciding not to subscribe to your policy? What's to stop a new promotion starting up and ignoring your policy & using who they like? Nothing. It's a great sentiment in theory & I appreciate your integrity, but it simply won't work, as you have no power to enforce your policies & rules.
They have been trying this for years in the UK with Pro Wrestling governing bodies. All attempts have failed. Promoters do what they like, and nobody can stop them.

Very true, there's nothing stopping people at all. But my Da always said you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar . Having the rubber stamp of approval from even a voluntary body would enhance a promotion's reputation for safety (the first thing on every coach's mind), and if the idea took off there would be a support network for those looking to put on shows in the correct manner. I know I bent Mark Leonard's ear a fair bit when I was putting on my first fight night and I would also help out anyone who wanted to put on a show in the right manner. Having something like a national register of medical officials, referees, judges etc. would be a huge help.

Bad shows get bad reputations and don't survive or just end up getting the right people on board anyway of they want to survive. I won't mention show's names but there are several examples of bad refereeing, bad officiating, bad facilities etc. which mean that clubs don't send fighters again. If a show doesn't want to have a seal of approval from a body that just wants to make sure they have medics, judges, a good referee etc. then I'll live with them not being on board.

Strikeforce

I'm usually a bit of a lurker and visit just to find out what shows are on. I had to register to leave a comment on this show though. I'm a big fan of MMA and like to visit shows when I can. I was there last night and was amazed at what happened at the time.

In retrospect though, let's face it, Liam has been like a time bomb waiting to explode. I've never seen him play fair at any time he's been on the card and he gets away with murder on every show.

MMA seems to be trying to clean up its act globally and local shows seem to want to establish a clean image (with the exception of those that sell themselves as "ultimate warfare" or "barn burners waiting to happen" and what not but ask to be taken seriously).

The fact is, local promoters and coaches must be willing to black-ball people like Ward from the gyms, rings and cages throughout the island or there's little hope. Coaches must accept responsibility here too. I find it hard to be believe that Ward's behaviour is to be considered out of character and of great surprise to his coaching team.

Chaos must go on though. For my money it's one of the precious few local shows worth paying money to attend. The McGillion Thomas and Doherty Friel fights were the sort of quality we are looking for. Maybe shows might consider putting less C Class matches on to fill out the bill? Sure this would mean less shows but that could be a good thing at this stage.

More pro fights and less amateur class paid entry events could be a way forward? The sport is too small and by far too divided for any sort of regulation at a national level but most shows can simply choose to apply common sense.

GSPfan

I honestly think an agreement between shows/clubs is a realistic and attainable goal. I could name about 15 clubs and about 6 shows that are making up the bulk of the fight cards in the entire country. The rules don't differ that much from show to show so its not like your asking hurlers to play with baseball bats.

And the question was asked about new shows setting up and ignoring the agreement. Well thats fine but part of the agreement would be that any club in the agreement won't let their fighters fight on shows who haven't agreed to it. If all the major clubs sign up to this you'd struggle to fill a card without joining the agreement.

To just dismiss it without attempting it is just silly. Liam Ward will struggle to get a fight in the near future. Who knows if he'll even have a club to train with after that.

koking

is anybody from evolve on here to state what is happening,will he be let fight for them again,will he even be allowed to train in their club again

John Ferguson

GSPfan wrote: »

I honestly think an agreement between shows/clubs is a realistic and attainable goal. I could name about 15 clubs and about 6 shows that are making up the bulk of the fight cards in the entire country. The rules don't differ that much from show to show so its not like your asking hurlers to play with baseball bats.

And the question was asked about new shows setting up and ignoring the agreement. Well thats fine but part of the agreement would be that any club in the agreement won't let their fighters fight on shows who haven't agreed to it. If all the major clubs sign up to this you'd struggle to fill a card without joining the agreement.

To just dismiss it without attempting it is just silly. Liam Ward will struggle to get a fight in the near future. Who knows if he'll even have a club to train with after that.

Purely from a promoter point of view we would welcome an agreement between clubs, shows and promoters. This way a standard can be set on things like fighter safety, conduct, crowd control, medical teams, drug testing and i am sure many other issues. It is only by working together will we acheive the status that Irish MMA truely deserves. Of course this is only an opinion!!!

John & Mark
www.fight.ie