Analysing the mainstream media reaction to Joao Carvalho’s tragic death

It has been a horrific few days for Mixed Martial Arts and Irish Mixed Martial Arts, in particular. Rarely in Irish history have we been able to say we had the best at something, but with Conor McGregor, we genuinely have possibly the best fighter on the planet. He certainly provokes a partisan response when his name is mentioned to hardcore fans.

One thing that’s hard to fault with the Irish is that when one of our own is even remotely good at something, the entire country will get behind them. We’ve seen it at various Olympics and tournaments around the world. But MMA and The UFC were different, this a sport that was exploding in a big way; and we have the guy. Gyms were popping up all over the country, with more and more fight nights taking place giving hungry athletes their first taste of what it was like to be a fighter. Then tragedy struck.

Joao Carvalho, a 28 year old Portuguese fighter died after a couple of days after a bout at a new promotions first event in Dublin. We still don’t know at the time of writing exactly what killed that young man, but we do know he was already an accomplished fighter – with his first loss, excluding a TKO loss due to injury, happening that very night. When tragedies like this occur, the blame game starts almost immediately and the uneducated in the sport – be it politicians, journalists or people on social media – line up to have their say for a vote, click or retweet. This is nothing new, but for someone with a strong personal interest in MMA it has become increasingly hard to stomach.

I received countless offers from media outlets to talk about what happened; to be fair, they wanted the other side to the incessantly hyperbolic phone in radio show ridiculousness. But it was still so raw, debate just felt somehow wrong. I did a couple of appearances that had already been pre-arranged which invariably involved MMA talk and concentrated on my job at Entertainment.ie.

But it grated me; respected journalists and generally well-informed people were spouting nonsensical rubbish about a sport they never really understood to begin with. Either they had a toe in the water of the McGregor phenomenon, or were always against it and jumped upon this tragedy as an opportunity to underline that agenda.

Mixed Martial Arts is not for everyone. Shocker, I know. But the success of Conor McGregor has shoved it to the mainstream so quickly that a lot of people haven’t had the time to adjust. Of course, it’s violent, it’s a combat sport; but it also has very little history serious injury – never mind fatalities. I’ve seen respected publications quote Wikipedia articles and include ‘non-sanctioned’ numbers to beef up their argument – essentially a bar brawl with a gumshield. But the dark few days that we’re currently in the midst of need to heed real change. Not by the already put-upon coaches, juggling dozens of fighters, but by a legitimate governing body with the power to enforce penalities on low-end promotions who refuse to take the proper medical care. The same promotions the acting minister “wrote letters” to. What are the repercussions for not responding to the broad strokes of the aforementioned letters? Evidently not enough for these smaller shows to pay the thousands of euro for medical care.

Other journalists like Petesy Carroll have articulately spoken about the staggering lack of regulations for MMA here, while Neurologist at Beaumont Hospital Dan Healy outlined a few weeks ago how dangerous not having proper medical staff on stand-by can be.

The night Joao Carvalho fought, TEF said every measure was taken and protocol was followed. Joao was checked between rounds, and the medical team on stand-by acted according to protocol.

For those who have made that walk, or loved someone that did, that horrible feeling is probably yet to leave the pit of their stomach. Everyone else will have an opinion regardless and choose to voice it either way. This sport is going nowhere, nor should it. But it needs to get better at pre-empting tragedy and injury and it cannot do that alone.

By Mike Sheridan

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Sean, Andrew and Petesy discussed the mainstream reaction to Joao’s tragic death and more on this week’s podcast: