Dublin MMA event cancelled as Swords venue claims insurance didn’t meet standards

The first mixed martial arts event in Dublin since last Saturday's Total Extreme Fighting card was stopped from going ahead at the last minute.

A World Cage Fighting Championship event scheduled for Friday evening in Swords' Wright Venue was cancelled shortly before the first bout as the venue deemed the insurance held by the event organiser was not up to their standards. "Basically, the show didn't go ahead this evening because their insurance just didn't meet up to the standards we expected it to," a representative of the Wright Venue told SportsJOE.ie on Friday night. "We sat down with them before the event got started and examined everything and found that the insurance held didn't match up to our standards." WCFC 5 was supposed to be held in a hybrid between boxing ring and cage, with fencing below the bottom rope, and was due to feature a mixture of amateur and professional fights under both MMA and K-1 rules. "We were concerned about everybody in the venue. Not just for the fighters in the ring but for the customers around the ring. https://twitter.com/kierancuddihy/status/721004078877302784 "The safety of everybody - patrons, employees and the fighters - is of importance to us and that's why the event was called off." Following the announcement, WCFC assured customers that the tickets purchased would be valid for a rescheduled event in May when the insurance issues could be resolved. The cancellation comes just days after the tragic passing of Portuguese mixed martial artist Joao Carvalho who died 48 hours after being rushed to hospital following a TKO defeat at an event in the National Stadium. There is no suggestion that this Friday night's rescheduling had anything to do with last week's incident but it should be noted due to the spotlight being cast over the lack of government regulation of mixed martial arts in Ireland in recent days.