An amateur mixed martial arts event got out of control in Florida
this past Saturday.
TMZ Sports obtained video of the scene, which included mutliple
fights outside the cage at “RIZE Fighting Championship: Battle of
Warriors” at the Bamboo Room in Lake Worth, Fla. As the melee
continued, footage showed a man reaching into a woman’s purse,
pulling out a handgun and firing it into the air at least once.
Based on the video, there appear to be fans in the balcony area
just above where the man fires the gun.
“Who knows what his thoughts were, if it was to diffuse the
situation, but you can’t do that in the United States, especially
at an event packed with fans, with people, you can’t shoot guns in
the air,” Rize promoter Armando Gonzalez told
NBC Miami.
According to the NBC Miami report, the fighting outside the cage
initially began because people didn’t like the officiating in one
particular bout.
“There was nowhere I could move, left or right there were
altercations all over the place, it was chaotic. When I tried to
get [away] from the mayhem, the woman threw the chair at me,” said
John
Rivera, who was serving as a judge at the event.
Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputies are investigating the identity
of the man who fired the gun and have confirmed at least two shots
were fired. No one was hit by the bullets and no arrests have been
made, authorities said.
Meanwhile, former UFC and Bellator fighter Hector
Lombard captured a different angle of the incident and posted
video on Instagram.
“This guy just shot his handgun in the middle of a melee at an
amateur show,” Lombard wrote. “Shameful and pathetic cowardly
behavior ruined a great night of fights. We went undefeated great
job to our champions.”
Gonzalez also released a statement via
Facebook.
“We would like to thank all of our loyal fans and supporters for an
amazing turn out Saturday evening. Our athletes put on incredible
performances and an awesome display of sportsmanship. We had
fighters travel from Texas, Tennessee, and Hawaii to show off their
skills and entertain our Palm Beach fans. To the RIZE FC TEAM, you
all did an spectacular job, we can’t THANK you enough!” he
wrote.
“Unfortunately, our Saturday Night event came to an abrupt end due
to unwelcomed and unacceptable behaviors of some of the attendants
of the event. However we will not let these unfortunate incidents
disrupt our promise to entertain local fight fans. We have been
fortunate to have one of the safest fight events in the area. We at
RIZE are dedicated and will continually focus on safety for all in
attendance at our future events.”