Double dose of bouts is in cards for CapeSaturday, January 20, 2007By Toby Carrig ~ Southeast Missourian
Starting tonight, a pair of mixed martial arts events will play out over two weekends.
Fans of mixed martial arts have waited years for an event in Cape Girardeau.
Now, all of a sudden, they have two events on back-to-back weekends.
The Eagles Aerie 3775 is hosting "Rumble on the River," a mix of boxing matches and mixed martial arts events. The event begins at 7 p.m. tonight with gates opening at the new Eagles club at 321 N. Spring St. at 5:30 p.m. The Sikeston-based Absolute Fighting Championships is sanctioning the event, with participants from Miletich Fighting Systems of Southeast Missouri and the Bootheel Bombers Boxing Club.
On Jan. 27, the Devastation Fight Club out of St. Louis is bringing a card to the A.C. Brase Arena Building. It has a 15-bout card scheduled with sanctioning from Kick International's mixed martial arts division in St. Louis.
While a state official would like the mixed martial arts to fall under its oversight, organizers of the events for Cape Girardeau and city officials have no concerns about the safety or security of the events.
Paul Farwig, who founded the Devastation Fight Club, has about 20 years of experience with promotions in boxing and kickboxing, including a two-year stint in 1996 and 1997 with the controverial Toughman competition series organized by Art Dore.
During that time, Farwig said, the state of Missouri passed a ban on Toughman events that wiped out a card he was promoting in St. Louis County.
Mixed martial arts, he said, is a whole different fight game from Toughman, which according to a 2003 report had eight deaths associated with its events in 24 years.
"Mixed martial arts takes all the skills of full-contact fighting -- jiu-jitsu, Greco-Roman wrestling, kickboxing. All-around athletes do this," he said. "The reason this is safer is because we have well-trained fighters. Toughman is just guys who think they're tough. They weren't in shape and they didn't have experience. We didn't want guys with experience; we just wanted guys to go in there and whale.
"We have quite a few rules, and the guys are just well-trained and in shape."
Timothy Lueckenhoff, an administrator with Missouri's Office of Athletics, still would like to see the amateur mixed martial arts regulated by the state. He said legislation was introduced in the past but failed.
Professional bouts are not legal, Lueckenhoff added, but he said it was hard to figure out which amateur athletes traveling state to state to compete are being compensated beyond the legitimate reimbursements of travel and training. The governing is left to sanctioning groups such as Kick International.
"We're hoping to get it regulated," Lueckenhoff said. "In my mind, it's out of control, because you don't know where these guys are coming from, if they fought in Illinois yesterday or not."
The Eagles expect athletes from about seven different states on their card, which includes about a 50-50 mix of boxing events and mixed martial events.
John A. Heuer, who is helping to organize the event for the Eagles, said the members were having discussions about hosting an event in their new hall when they became aware of the Absolute Fighting Challenge organization, which has conducted events in Dexter. They had an event Jan. 6 at the Sikeston Eagles Club.
No one was certain the last time Cape Girardeau hosted a similar event, but Heuer speculated that it may have been more than a decade ago. "About 10 or 15 years ago, the Elks club did have some events, and they were very successful," he said.
Heuer said the "Rumble on the River" will include a full slate of entertainment, including music before, between and after the bouts.
Tickets for the Eagles show include $20 general admission seats or VIP tables with full meal, drinks and parking at $360 for a group of six.
The Eagles organizers mentioned that among those in attendance at their event will be the mayor, Jay Knudtson.
Knudtson knows not everyone in Cape Girardeau will endorse mixed martial arts.
"It is something that has a degree of popularity, and I also know it's highly controversial," Knudtson said. "Entertainment takes all different forms, and I have a lot of respect for the leadership of the Eagles."
He said he expects his attendance to give him a better understanding of the nature of the sport.
The city's hosting of the Jan. 27 event never was discussed at the city council level, Knudtson said.
Dan Muser, the director of the city's Parks and Recreation Department, said the decision to accept the agreement with Farwig's Devastation Fight Club was made by his staff.
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"Anytime you get a first-time event," Farwig???????? said, "we try to check everything out and verify that that they pay the bills and they're dependable. We did check with Poplar Bluff, which has hosted these, and they said it's a good event."
Muser said he doesn't see any controversy to the event. He said the promoter will be providing security for the event and that the city won't be making any special arrangements on that end.
"It's kind of like when we had wrestling here before," said Muser, referencing past events put on by the St. Louis-based Gateway Championship Wrestling. "This may be more like boxing and somewhat less theatrical than wrestling."
"It is kind of a high-end operation," he added. "Certainly more of a high-end operation than the wrestling does. It's like dinner-theater except the theater happens to be martial arts."
Indeed, tickets for the event at the Brase Arena -- billed as "UFC-style amateur cage fights" on the city's Web site -- are ranging from $20 bleacher seats to $70 gold seats with drinks and food.
Farwig said ticket sales are going well, and he expects more than 1,300 people to attend.
He was not deterred by the preceding weekend's "Rumble on the River," saying positive things about the group sanctioning that event.
The Eagles club can hold about 600 people for tonight's event.
"We weren't wanting to butt heads with those guys coming to town next week," Heuer said.
Good thing. In mixed martial arts, butting heads is not allowed.
Starting tonight, a pair of mixed martial arts events will play out over two weekends.
Fans of mixed martial arts have waited years for an event in Cape Girardeau.
Now, all of a sudden, they have two events on back-to-back weekends.
The Eagles Aerie 3775 is hosting "Rumble on the River," a mix of boxing matches and mixed martial arts events. The event begins at 7 p.m. tonight with gates opening at the new Eagles club at 321 N. Spring St. at 5:30 p.m. The Sikeston-based Absolute Fighting Championships is sanctioning the event, with participants from Miletich Fighting Systems of Southeast Missouri and the Bootheel Bombers Boxing Club.
On Jan. 27, the Devastation Fight Club out of St. Louis is bringing a card to the A.C. Brase Arena Building. It has a 15-bout card scheduled with sanctioning from Kick International's mixed martial arts division in St. Louis.
While a state official would like the mixed martial arts to fall under its oversight, organizers of the events for Cape Girardeau and city officials have no concerns about the safety or security of the events.
Paul Farwig, who founded the Devastation Fight Club, has about 20 years of experience with promotions in boxing and kickboxing, including a two-year stint in 1996 and 1997 with the controverial Toughman competition series organized by Art Dore.
During that time, Farwig said, the state of Missouri passed a ban on Toughman events that wiped out a card he was promoting in St. Louis County.
Mixed martial arts, he said, is a whole different fight game from Toughman, which according to a 2003 report had eight deaths associated with its events in 24 years.
"Mixed martial arts takes all the skills of full-contact fighting -- jiu-jitsu, Greco-Roman wrestling, kickboxing. All-around athletes do this," he said. "The reason this is safer is because we have well-trained fighters. Toughman is just guys who think they're tough. They weren't in shape and they didn't have experience. We didn't want guys with experience; we just wanted guys to go in there and whale.
"We have quite a few rules, and the guys are just well-trained and in shape."
Timothy Lueckenhoff, an administrator with Missouri's Office of Athletics, still would like to see the amateur mixed martial arts regulated by the state. He said legislation was introduced in the past but failed.
Professional bouts are not legal, Lueckenhoff added, but he said it was hard to figure out which amateur athletes traveling state to state to compete are being compensated beyond the legitimate reimbursements of travel and training. The governing is left to sanctioning groups such as Kick International.
"We're hoping to get it regulated," Lueckenhoff said. "In my mind, it's out of control, because you don't know where these guys are coming from, if they fought in Illinois yesterday or not."
The Eagles expect athletes from about seven different states on their card, which includes about a 50-50 mix of boxing events and mixed martial events.
John A. Heuer, who is helping to organize the event for the Eagles, said the members were having discussions about hosting an event in their new hall when they became aware of the Absolute Fighting Challenge organization, which has conducted events in Dexter. They had an event Jan. 6 at the Sikeston Eagles Club.
No one was certain the last time Cape Girardeau hosted a similar event, but Heuer speculated that it may have been more than a decade ago. "About 10 or 15 years ago, the Elks club did have some events, and they were very successful," he said.
Heuer said the "Rumble on the River" will include a full slate of entertainment, including music before, between and after the bouts.
Tickets for the Eagles show include $20 general admission seats or VIP tables with full meal, drinks and parking at $360 for a group of six.
The Eagles organizers mentioned that among those in attendance at their event will be the mayor, Jay Knudtson.
Knudtson knows not everyone in Cape Girardeau will endorse mixed martial arts.
"It is something that has a degree of popularity, and I also know it's highly controversial," Knudtson said. "Entertainment takes all different forms, and I have a lot of respect for the leadership of the Eagles."
He said he expects his attendance to give him a better understanding of the nature of the sport.
The city's hosting of the Jan. 27 event never was discussed at the city council level, Knudtson said.
Dan Muser, the director of the city's Parks and Recreation Department, said the decision to accept the agreement with Farwig's Devastation Fight Club was made by his staff.
???????
"Anytime you get a first-time event," Farwig???????? said, "we try to check everything out and verify that that they pay the bills and they're dependable. We did check with Poplar Bluff, which has hosted these, and they said it's a good event."
Muser said he doesn't see any controversy to the event. He said the promoter will be providing security for the event and that the city won't be making any special arrangements on that end.
"It's kind of like when we had wrestling here before," said Muser, referencing past events put on by the St. Louis-based Gateway Championship Wrestling. "This may be more like boxing and somewhat less theatrical than wrestling."
"It is kind of a high-end operation," he added. "Certainly more of a high-end operation than the wrestling does. It's like dinner-theater except the theater happens to be martial arts."
Indeed, tickets for the event at the Brase Arena -- billed as "UFC-style amateur cage fights" on the city's Web site -- are ranging from $20 bleacher seats to $70 gold seats with drinks and food.
Farwig said ticket sales are going well, and he expects more than 1,300 people to attend.
He was not deterred by the preceding weekend's "Rumble on the River," saying positive things about the group sanctioning that event.
The Eagles club can hold about 600 people for tonight's event.
"We weren't wanting to butt heads with those guys coming to town next week," Heuer said.
Good thing. In mixed martial arts, butting heads is not allowed.
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