‘The energy was great’: Roughly 1,000 attend first MMA fight in a decade

After a 10-year hiatus, it appears support for MMA fighting is strong in the City of Vernon.

Raja Kler, organizer of XFC Unbanned told Vernon Matters roughly 1,000 people showed up to watch the first MMA fight in a decade at the Vernon Curling Club last Friday.

“The crowd was awesome, the energy was great, the fighters put on great fights, and the home team showed that they are here, so it was like awesome,” he said.

The crowd even reportedly impressed the B.C. Athletic Commissioner, who was there to oversee the conduct of the event.

“The B.C. Athletic commissioner said that they had not seen an event that big outside of UFC in years, so when I hear that I think ‘Oh it’s here to stay,'” Kler said.

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A total of six Vernon athletes entered the ring, all of which are students of Kler’s at Unity MMA.

“I was really impressed. Our guy Angus Frank, it was his first fight and he has only been training four months and like he went up against a guy who has been training for seven years. I know he didn’t win but like at the same time he showed so much heart, and at the end of every round he was rallying coming back,” Kler said.

The event did carry some minor hiccups with complaints about long lines to get a drink, but Kler said those are all learning lessons that they hope to correct for future matches.

“Honestly we had looked and talked to other promotors about how they do in their sales and we never expected to do what we did,” he said. “There’s little things that need to be fixed, little things, like showtimes, and the BC Athletic Commission said everything else was run so well they were really, really, happy.”

When asked about the future of MMA fights in Vernon, Kler said the future looks bright.

“I think in the future whether it is us or someone else there will definitely be more MMA fights in Vernon. I mean look at the turnout and look at how well the athletes and the coaches and everybody did,” Kler said.

There are talks about hosting another MMA event, between Kler and his group, but the event likely won’t happen until the end of the New Year.