Minister Shane Ross is challenged to check out MMA

A NORTHSIDE based MMA coach has challenged the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport to “educate himself” on mixed martial arts before making “inflammatory statements” concerning the sport in Ireland.

Team Ryano’s Andy Ryan was responding to Minister Shane Ross’s recent comments that he finds some of the scenes in MMA “quite disturbing”.

However, he has now been given an open invitation from Ryan to come down and attend his Team Ryano gym in Finglas so he can find out for himself about the sport.

“You have got to come down and speak to the coaches,” Ryan told Northside People.

“Drop down to my gym in Finglas, or Barry Oglesby’s gym in Glasnevin, or one of the established gyms around. We go above and beyond what we’re meant to do.

“You need to go and educate yourself a bit more, like Sport Ireland have done. They went over to SBG (gym) and thought it was a great set up.

“Come down and look and watch the training we do, the facilities we have, the standards we set. We have the highest medical standards in the world, not just Ireland, and that’s for amateur and professional MMA.”

Ryan also noted the extraordinary lengths that groups like IMMAA and Safe MMA Ireland go to to ensure fighters are given the best possible medical treatment when competing.

Ryan runs a local show called BattleZone, which is a much smaller promotion compared to the heavyweights of the UFC, Bellator and BAMMA.

The former Irish Army soldier also coaches Irish UFC fighter and Dubliner Neil Seery, but insists that even at his shows, fighters have to go through the strictest of protocols in order to compete.

“I run BattleZone as my own little show for the local fighters in Ireland,” said Ryan.

“We had a Government official come out to our show and they came along and they couldn’t believe the sportsmanship or the crowd there.

“It wasn’t a beer-fest brawl, it was proper competition in a family environment. If you fight at one of my shows, you have to have all your medicals in order. You have to train in a recognised gym and you have to be Safe MMA approved.

“You come to my show then and you do a medical with a qualified doctor that works in combat sports. Then when you finish your fight we have a trauma room for guys to be checked on when they finish their fight.

“We have a whole A&E place set up; we don’t need it, but we have it. I don’t think you’d see that in any other sport and that’s for a little local show in a sports hall.”

Ryan insists that he has an open door policy at his gym on the Jamestown Road and any politician who has any queries about MMA is more than welcome to come down and chat with him about the sport, its pathways and its future.