Battleground 19

The Last Straw for Battleground?

December brought Battleground to its final show of the year. It took place December 3, 2008 at a local club in downtown Indianapolis. Unfortunately the events of the night and the legislation being passed in the Indiana congress may make it impossible for Battleground to keep working. The main event was scheduled to be Same Toole vs. Al Thomas but Al ended up not being able to make it to the show. The rest of the matches were created and set up half an hour before the fights started. Battleground has open to the public fights. Fighter s can walk in the day of the fights and weigh in, and then be set up with a fight. The new Indiana legislation beginning in January will prevent shows like Battleground from possibly existing. The night consisted of eight total fights; five of the fights were ended by referee stoppage, three of the fights were won by submission. Normally a break down of each fight would follow but due to some controversy I am compelled to write about what happened during the fights.
Injuries are a normal part of MMA and cage fighting and to protect not only the fighters but the fight promotion as well the fighters sign a consent and waiver form. Unfortunately a few of the forms were not legally signed and it became a problem when the fighters got severely injured. One fighter turned out to be 17 and this was only caught after he ended up going to the hospital with a broken nose. He would have been allowed to fight if a parent had signed for him, unfortunately because it was a bar he would not have been allowed in to fight since you must be at least 18 years old. The other major controversy of the night was the third fight of the night, Jeremy Murray vs. Jake Parsley. One of the fighters, Jake admits to not planning on fighting. He had drank with his friends at home before going to the bar where the fights were had a few more drinks, before being approached by the promoter. The promoter offered him money to get in and fight, since they were low on fighters. Jake being drunk agreed and ended up fighting. During the fight Jake and Jeremy both were ruthless against each other, and they had to call it a draw after the EMT’s on sight would not let either fighter continue. The next day Jake went to the hospital and found out not only would he have to have cosmetic surgery to fix his nose. He also had to have his jaw wired shut after it was broken in the fight. Jake admits to being too drunk to drive and in some of the video Jake stumbles on his way up the stairs into the cage.
Battleground has always been questionable. Having last second fights with people out of the crowd, or not having a completely safe ring or cage for the fighters to fight in have made it more of a side show than an MMA show. They have also failed to keep a doctor on sight. This last show has left them without a venue. After hearing all of the issues the bar refused to allow them back. With all of the rules that will be coming into play in January, Battleground may not be able to clean up their act and have sanctioned fights.