225BatonRouge.com

Rich Clementi of Slidell is a fighter, in the ring and out. It’s what he does, whether it’s as a participant in The Ultimate Fighter, the mixed martial arts, reality-TV show on Spike TV, or trying keep his sport above board and in growth-mode.

And there is plenty of fighting to do outside the octagonal cage.

His event, Capital City Carnage, was set for the Baton Rouge River Center on Saturday night, August 26. But on the Wednesday before, the state Attorney General notified him the show could be shut down.

According to an injunction filed by his Baton Rouge lawyer, Joe Long, Clementi stood to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars if that happened.

“I submitted my application with the [Louisiana] boxing commission,” Clementi says. “My show was advertised for months in advance, and I thought that it was really strange and almost unjust the way it unfolded.”

Luckily for Clementi, things worked out, but not before a couple of stressful days for the 30-year-old, former high school wrestler from New Jersey, who started promoting events six years ago.

AG Charles C. Foti Jr.’s office sited an old “tough man” statute, and argued it made Clementi’s event unlawful.

But Clementi, an experienced promoter, had already earned the approval from the state Boxing Commission.

“It was surprising it would come up, because the state’s been involved in mixed martial arts for 10 years. It was actually on the forefront, with Nevada and New Jersey.”

“They’re evaluating a tough-man statute saying this sport, which is legitimized and accepted by the major boxing commissions in the United States, falls under a tough-man statute. It’s really absurd.”

Why did Foti’s office suddenly try to shut the event down? Was Foti pressured by boxing interests whose own events now find themselves competing for an audience with upstart Ultimate Fighting? The AG’s office did not return 225’s phone calls seeking answers.

Capital City Carnage proceeded as planned. The event had two major sponsors, Coors and the U.S. Army, plus other smaller vendors.

That doesn’t mean smooth sailing for MMA. Promoter Tony Jarreau has events planned for October in Belle Rose at No Problem Raceway and another set for early December.

If the AG’s office—or anyone else for that matter—mounts a campaign to block MMA fighting in Louisiana, they’ll be attacking a sport with growing popularity.

“We’ve been doing mixed martial arts in Louisiana for 10 years,” says Clementi, who spent time in the Navy and Air Force before getting involved in MMA.

He’s not a big guy—5 feet 9 inches, 170 pounds—but it’s easy to see by just looking at his muscular build and the confident way he carries himself that he can fight.

He expects to see his sport continue to grow.

“It’s appealing to a lot of people,” Clementi says. “For people who like wrestling, like guys who wrestled in high school and college, there’s that. For traditional martial artists, they’re part of it. It hits a lot of demographics the same way NASCAR does.”

“And the competitors are a wide range of people. You have doctors who compete. You have Rich Franklin here [for the Capital City Carnage]. He’s a world champion and a math teacher with his master’s degree. So I think a lot of people can relate to the competitors.”