Welcome to 1993...MMA Fans this is a Must Read
Below is letter I was emailed concerning a MMA event held recently in Huthinson Kansas. Pay specific attention to the quote from Troy Hoover of the Hutchinson PD. I personally attended this event, and witnessed no fights outside the cage, an average amount of intoxicated people (no more than any other sporting event), a ref and normal MMA rules were in place, all the fighters had gloves and mouth pieces, and I don't remember anyone getting cut or injured. Hitchinson, Ks. should feel lucky to have a class promotion like WarfareXtreme holding events in their city, and not be trying to shut them down.
WWW.MMAKC.COM
WWW.MMAKC.COM
I appreciate the efforts of Dave and mmakc.com in posting this. I'd like to break down the accusations sentence by sentence, and post my rebuttal (or in other words, the TRUTH)regarding each statement.
"Every time they come to town, the HPD receives several calls of fights, drunkenness, and domestic battery."
This totally contradicts a statement made earlier in the report, when they state "I believe a similar event was held at an earlier date, but I don't have that information." If "every time they come to town, the HPD receives several calls of fights, drunkenness, and domestic battery", wouldn't they have that information available...specific dates of past shows, number of calls received, etc?
"During my observation of the event, I noticed that a couple thousand people attended this event and the majority of them were intoxicated."
This officer may be the single most amazing Police Captain in history, and should be made readily available to every police station in the U.S. He is apparently able to tell simply by observing a crowd of a 'couple thousand people' that the majority are intoxicated. Breathalyzers and sobriety tests are obviously not necessary to the keen telepathic eye of this man.
I've seen the official alcohol sales total for this event. Comparing the total cost of alcohol sold to the total attendance, the end result is approximately 1.5 alcoholic beverages sold per spectator, the vast majority of which is 3.2% beer. This is over a 2.5 hour event, 3.5 hours if you include the official 'door opening' time, 4.5 hours if you include the time that the approximately 270 VIP customers and event sponsors were admitted to the venue. I don't believe 1.5 alcoholic beverages over this period of time legally indicates intoxication in any state.
"They put two people in a cage and allow them to fight to submission with no holds barred."
The state of Kansas uses the unified rules of MMA, and in addition, elbow strikes are not allowed on the ground. In attendance was the state commissioner, the state MMA director, 5 state licensed inspectors, as well as state licensed referees, judges, and timekeepers.
"They use no protective equipment or gloves"
All fighters wear the required protective equipment, are checked in standard fashion by the state inspectors immediately before entering the cage, and all fighters wear 5 oz gloves (as opposed to the standard 4 oz). This is evident on all the video footage we shot, and numerous 'fan-cam' videos on youtube, etc.
"and most often there are significant injuries."
We have a ringside doctor, 2 EMT's in attendance, ambulance standby, and a $5,000 medical insurance policy in place for each and every fighter at all events. In the course of 3 events and 30 matches held in the state, there has been not one single significant injury to any fighter. To the best of my knowledge, there hasn't been even a single stitch administered to any fighter. We've yet to have to use our insurance policy over 3 events. All fighters are given a thorough physical exam the day of the matches, and any fighter losing by TKO, knockout or submission is attended to and observed by the ringside doctor immediately after the match. Any fighter who is knocked out is on suspension for a minimum of 30 days across the USA by every state with an athletic commission. A local entertainment website has footage of a pre event interview with the EMT's, where they state there's been 'no incidents'.
The irony and hypocrisy of the report is magnified when you consider that this same city allowed unsanctioned Toughman contests to occur with no intervention for a period of two years. The State Athletic Commission itself had to step in and ban these events.
These events featured untrained and unlicensed participants, 150 lb people fighting 300 lb people, no doctors, no EMTs, no ambulance standby, no licensed officials, no insurance. Fighters were allowed to 'call-out' opponents at random from the audience. Part of our efforts of running events in this city was to distinguish ourselves from these events and educate the audience to real MMA competition with trained athletes.
If any of the above allegations were true, this would be a different story altogether, and the city would have a legitimate beef. But the simple truth is that the eyewitness report is completely inaccurate.
Thanks for reading, Mick
what a bunch of shit. i would assume the commissioner replied with a letter correcting the accusations. I would move the event and let everyone know why in local news papers.