The Pilot News - Donaldson ‘cage fight’ cancelled

“It’s very frustrating,” said Henson. “They never called me, the promoter of the event. They went straight after the owner of the venue. They told them if they hosted the event that they’d be sure that they never had paintball there again. It was basically a few people in political power in Plymouth that decided they didn’t want this to happen.”
A call to T.J. Shanklin of Paintball Heat was not returned by press time for this article.
The fight was brought to the attention of the Marshall County Board of Zoning Appeals at Tuesday’s meeting by Plan Director Ralph Booker. At the meeting, Booker told the board that he was checking into whether the event was allowable under the zoning ordinance for the property, but Booker said a 1997 court ruling would most likely prevent the county from stopping the event for zoning violations.
Booker was at a conference out of the city on Wednesday and was unavailable to return a phone call by press time.
President of the Marshall County Commissioners Tom Chamberlin, also a member of the Marshall County Plan Commission, had the same misgivings as Booker.
“Our only concern was to be sure that the property was zoned correctly for the event that was going to take place there,” said Chamberlin. “In that case, I don’t know that we need to contact the promoter. It’s the land owner that is responsible for the proper use of the land.”
Concerns from the city of Plymouth centered on advertisement for the event that said a portion of the proceeds would be donated to the Plymouth Fire Department.
“Of course the event is outside the two-mile boundary so we have no control over it,” said Plymouth Mayor Mark Senter. “We have no real feelings about the event either way other than the Plymouth Fire Department was mentioned. The Fire Chief (Andy Metsker) had no knowledge of the event and the department will not benefit from or endorse the event in any way.”
Henson contends that the department did know and “…were more than willing to take the donation. We didn’t say anything about them being involved, only that we were going to donate money from the event to them.”
Metsker says that the first his department heard of the donation was when the advertising flyers for the event were distributed Tuesday.
“Someone associated with Paintball Heat who is also associated with the fire department was asked by the promoter to bring the possibility up at our regular department business meeting that was scheduled for July 9,” said Metsker. “Obviously the advertising had been distributed before the topic was ever brought up to us. We haven’t even had the meeting yet (Wednesday afternoon).”
Henson believes that much of the resistance to the event stems from misconceptions about exactly what the sport of Mixed Martial Arts fighting is.
“The sport is sanctioned in 48 states. These are real athletes, not just a couple of guys beating on each other,” said Henson. “They train very hard. Boxing is part of it. Jiu Jitsu submissions and defenses are part of it; kickboxing is part of it. There are many, many rules and certified and sanctioned referees and judges. Nobody has ever been killed in a Mixed Martial Arts match in the history of the sport.
“South Bend has it. Mishawaka has it. Hammond has it. Michigan City has it. Plymouth had an event eight years ago and there was no opposition then. I was told that the mayor said this is a church-going community — well I go to church too and the Bible doesn’t say you can’t have two people athletically compete with each other in a fighting match.”
Just what action Henson will take from here is uncertain.
“I’ve talked with my lawyer; he wants me to sue the city,” he said. “I really don’t know what to do now. I really wish something could have been worked out. I still want to hold events, obviously not in this location.”
Tomorrow, the Pilot News will examine the sport of Mixed Martial Arts fighting from the perspective of those who participate, and those who disapprove of the sport.