The brother of the Portuguese mixed martial arts fighter who died earlier this month has said his family are being given no answers as to why they can’t take his body home.
Joao Carvalho received serious head injuries in an MMA clash with Charlie Ward at the National Stadium on Saturday, April 9th. He died the following Monday.
In an interview on Tuesday night on RTE's Prime Time, his brother Alex Silvestre said he wanted to take Carvalho home but was unable to do.
“I don’t know what’s happened. No one gives us answers. It’s nine days. It’s too much. I want to go home and take my brother with me, to give rest to him and everyone,” he said. “My brother comes from a different country. He’s here in Ireland – no one cares about anything.
“No one comes to us to ask what’s happened. No one comes to us to give any explanation to say ‘you’ll stay here with your brother for one or two weeks more’.”
Widespread debate
Carvalho was left in a critical condition at Beaumont Hospital following the welterweight Total Extreme Fighting bout having complained of feeling unwell shortly after suffering a technical knockout.
The fight and Carvalho’s subsequent death sparked widespread debate on the safety and future of the nascent sport.
“I am very worried about the boy when the referee stopped the fight, because I saw my brother on the floor. I knew something was wrong with my brother at this moment,” said Silvestre.
Unusually, Carvalho did not text his family immediately after the fight to say he was all right. Shortly afterwards, Silvestre said he received a call from a doctor telling him of his condition. He flew in from the UK to be at his brother’s bedside.
