A local Olympic boxing hopeful is not a fan of MMA.
Darren O’Neill, from Paulstown Kilkenny, was speaking to KCLR as MMA continues to make headlines across the world. Firstly with the death in Dublin of fighter Joao Carvalho and then with Conor McGregor announcing and then un-announcing his retirement
Darren spoke to presenter Eimear Ní Bhraonáin on KCLR Live this Thursday morning where he was discussing Collection Day for the Special Olympics which takes place across Carlow this Friday.
When asked for his thoughts on MMA, he said he finds the sport to be dangerous and that there may be a lack of expert coaches available.
I’m not a fan of it. I don’t really – if it’s on I’ll watch it, but I don’t really. I find it to be dangerous. But look, that’s my point of view. Sorry, I’m speaking out of turn there. I find the UFC to be very dangerous and maybe a little bit scripted at times, that’s my opinion. The MMA, maybe, it’s fine but I think people need to be well trained up first because it’s a new sport. I think maybe people go into it naievly you know. In boxing terms, we wouldn’t put anybody into the ring who would be over-matched without years of training and a lot of coaching first and I think because it’s a new sport I’m not sure that there are many expert coaches out there yet. I could be wrong, but that’s my stance on it for the moment.
Hit play below to listen to the interview…
