Fine Gael Senator Catherine Noone has retracted comments she made about the UFC being "ultra violent" and "money driven" following a slew of threats.
Angry UFC fans bombarded Noone on Twitter and even sent death and rape threats to the senator after hearing her comments. Noone eventually went to the police in an attempt to track down the anonymous users and withdrew her comments while accepting any offers of training or support on the topic.
Noone released a statement Thursday addressing the threats:
While I understand and appreciate the depth of feeling among devotees of this sport, it’s clear that in a number of instances comments addressed at me in emails and tweets have entirely crossed the line.
There’s only so many times you can be called such utterly nasty things before you decide to take action, so I have followed the correct procedure and reported the abusive comments to both Twitter and the Gardaí.
The UFC last held an event in Ireland in July 2014 when Conor McGregor and Diego Brandao headlined a featherweight showdown at the O2 Arena.