Inside the business, located at 260 W. Davis St., Suite-C, investigators found a room above the tattoo parlor with an open space surrounded by chairs and numerous fist-sized holes in the walls.
They seized mixed martial arts gloves, digital scales, an Ultimate Fighting Championship rule book and schedule of upcoming fights, according to a news release.
The owner, Lannie Wells Jones Jr., 27, of 3850 Marys Church Road in Mebane, was arrested at the scene.
He was charged with assault inflicting serious injury, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and three counts of prohibited tattooing and piercing of minors without parental consent, according to Burlington police.
More charges are expected, Burlington police said. Authorities were tipped off to the club in January, after 16-year-old Cody Gallagher of Snow Camp was taken to Alamance Regional Medical Center with injuries consistent with fighting.
Alan Fields, district supervisor for the ALE Greensboro district said Gallagher and a 17-year-old are the only two confirmed members of the fight club, which recruited members by word of mouth at Alamance County high schools.
"This is the first arrest like this anywhere in the state once we've began regulating boxing and mixed martial arts," Fields said.
"Unregulated underground fight clubs like this are a danger to participants. This operation not only violated the law, it also resulted in at least one serious injury to a person not old enough to participate in a regulated event."
This is absolutely retarded as the guy was very fortunate that no one sustained any serious injuries(other than the one reported). This is a prime example as to why it's imperative that people are educated on the sport and how to go about holding fights the LEGAL way. Although I'm aware this guy is a certified idiot and had no intentions of getting a legal permit to hold events. Believe it or not, things types of things are all too common and many of these instances go unreported. Kudos to whomever reported the injuries the teenager suffered. If you are aware that these types of things are going on, please don't remain silent. If you are a fan of the sport of MMA, I challenge you to do the right thing and notify the authorities. If not, shoot me an email and I'll get it done with the proper information provided.
Loading comments...