The acting Minister for Sport has said the Government may not be able to regulate Mixed Martial Arts.

Speaking after the death of Portuguese fighter João Carvalho, Michael Ring has said he saw the dangers of the sport coming down the track and tried to do something about it.

Mr Carvalho died on Monday night after his bout with Irish fighter Charlie Ward on Saturday night in Dublin.

Minister Ring has said he wrote to over a dozen representative organisations – outlining his concerns about the unregulated sport – during the term of the last Government: “I actually saw the dangers of this sport coming as Minister and I did my best to do something about it.

“When they weren’t part of the sports council I couldn’t just bring them in and regulate them because they weren’t getting funding from the state.

“It is something now that has to be investigated and we may not be able to regulate this sport, we may not be able to anything about it, but at the end of the day we have to look at it and see is there any ways or means that we can.”