THE EYES OF the mixed martial arts world were on Dublin this week, as the Ultimate Fighting Championship brought a massive media and fan event to the Convention Centre to promote this summer’s UFC featherweight world title bout between defending champion Jose Aldo and Dublin’s Conor McGregor — the challenger.
Approximately 3,000 fans crammed into the venue to get a glimpse of the UFC 189 headliners, while Ireland’s seven other UFC athletes were also on hand to field questions.
However, there was a largely negative reaction to the event here in Ireland, with some of those in attendance opting to use the opportunity to hurl abuse at Aldo, a 28-year-old Brazilian who is the only UFC featherweight champion in history having remained undefeated for nearly 10 years.
Many Irish MMA fans have since expressed their embarrassment at how the event transpired, so we decided to get an external take on the situation from journalists based in Brazil, the US and the UK.
Guilherme Cruz, journalist for MMAFighting.com in Brazil
“I wasn’t surprised at all by the way Irish fans treated Aldo, and I didn’t see anything wrong with that either. McGregor had to experience the same when he came to Rio de Janeiro for a Q&A with the fans before UFC 179 last October.
“And even though we could argue that Aldo didn’t deserve to be treated like that since he was always respectful, it’s part of the game and he knew that was coming.
“However, I understand that some Irish fans might feel a little embarrassed by the way some behaved in Dublin. I felt the same way when dozens of fans started attacking McGregor last year here at Maracanazinho. It’s part of the business — or, ‘is normal’, as Anderson Silva would say.”
Simon Head, UFC reporter for The Sun & Sun+ in the UK
“As a UFC fighter, Jose Aldo deserves respect. His status as a champion notwithstanding, the fact he fights for a living, and does so at such a high level, is something to be respected.
“Conor received his fair share of abuse when they were in Rio de Janeiro, but Aldo definitely caught the worse end of the equation — and that was unfortunate. The event itself was great, the atmosphere was superb, but some of the abuse was unnecessary.
“I’m not sure it will cause too much damage to the Irish MMA fans’ reputation. I’d point to the difference between the McGregor/Aldo part of the event and the following part that featured Ireland’s other UFC fighters.
“That second part of the event had a much more respectful atmosphere and more appropriate questions from the fans. It suggests to me that a certain group of people opted to leave after part one of the event. The real Irish MMA fans will have stayed for the whole thing and the change in the atmosphere reflected that.”
Dann Stupp, MMA editor-in-chief at USA Today & MMAjunkie.com in the US
“I wasn’t really surprised by the Irish fans’ reaction. I think the tone of the day was set long ago with how the Brazilian fans previously greeted McGregor there; how the fighters have treated each other, with the nature and focus of the ‘Embedded’ series, and the almost-anything-goes tone of the tour as a whole.
“I think some of the rowdier Irish fans simply tapped into the energy and craziness that was already there. A few of them probably pushed the bounds of decency and civility during the Q&A, but that’s been the case in Brazil and UFC host cities throughout North America and the rest of the world.
“Honestly, all Tuesday’s event made me think is that Irish fans are as passionate as any others. You get some bad apples who possibly go too far, drink a little too much and ask tasteless questions, but I don’t think they represent Irish MMA as a whole.
“It’s the same reason I don’t judge all New York/New Jersey fans by the handful of guys who show up completely shit-faced for early-afternoon UFC Q&A sessions and weigh-ins when the UFC heads there.
“To non-MMA fans, McGregor’s behaviour may seem over the top and tasteless. However, anyone who follows the sport even casually knows the fighters are incentivised to do whatever it takes to get fans interested and buy pay-per-views.
“They get a cut of that revenue, so it’s in their best interest to be over the top and basically use McGregor’s blueprint. Nothing from the past two weeks makes me think the fight is going to play out any differently, but I’m certainly more interested in seeing them finally enter the cage.”
