John Kavanagh (photo via College Times / Youtube)

By FCF Staff

Straight Blast Gym founder John Kavanagh attended the pre-fight press conference for BAMMA 26 on Thursday, and here is some of what the Irish coach had to say about the promotion, and safety standards in MMA.

BAMMA 26 takes place Saturday at the 3 Arena in Dublin, Ireland (quotes via BAMMA press conference):

On Safety Standards

“This is the biggest one, I say that because of the responsibility BAMMA have taken on board for raising the safety standards.  It’s huge, the knock on effect it’s going to have for the rest of the UK and Europe.  So I’m very thankful to them, because they took a huge risk when they announced what they were doing as there’s a expense involved to each fighter to get their medicals done.  But we had to do this to follow the same route as pro boxing & the UFC, the standard they set.  I’m delighted it’s happened.  I’m very thankful to BAMMA, I’m very loyal to BAMMA, I’ll always be a big part of the show when they come to Ireland.

So Saturdays show, is the first pro show in Ireland to produce these new safety standards and as a coach my concern is for the safety of fighters. That’s big for me and it’s a historical night, on top of that as a fan from top to bottom we have a really amazing fight card.”

On BAMMA

“It’s funny I used to have a amateur show (Well back then it was a pro show) but Amateur show with Gunnar Nelson, Conor Mcgregor, Aising Daly, Paddy Holohan and it was a tenner for a ticket and I struggled selling them.  I’d probably sell out now, but what i’d say to fans is, this is your chance to look at future stars here, everybody uses the UFC as measuring scale, but there’s no one here that doesn’t have the skills to get at that level.
For me, BAMMA is the top show in Europe and they don’t have to bow down to the UFC as these fighters have the equivalent skill level of anyone who fights on the European cards for the UFC.  For the sake of a couple of Euros, this place down the road (3Arena) should be sold out, for Irish guys that support that Conor fella and MMA fans, that place should be sold out and that place should be deafening for all the guys making the walk.”