St. Charles nixes MMA event?

In the fight to have mixed martial arts events in St. Charles, promoters received a second knockdown Monday night.

Just last week, a city council committee shot down a plan to have four MMA events at the Arcada Theater.

The promoter, Rob Zbilski, altered his game plan Monday by asking for approval of only one event and moving the venue to the DuPage Expo center. The venue hosted MMA events last year and was expected to be a more palatable location because it's away from the downtown.

In denying the application for four events at the theater, council members said they didn't believe mixed martial arts would lend to the family-type atmosphere the city wants downtown.

“The violence of caged mixed martial arts is not the type of entertainment that many of my constituents want to come to St. Charles,” said 4th Ward Alderman Jim Martin. “Past events are not an automatic indication of success to follow. I want some assurances that no one will be leaving that event under the influence.”

Zbilski explained it's impossible to offer such a guarantee as the phenomenon of having too much to drink happens even in the city's own taverns with somewhat regularity. He didn't spent too much time defending that point.

Martin, and fellow 4h Ward Alderman Jo Krieger, always vote against any event or permit involving alcohol.

The lone victory for Zbilski came with a change of heart from 6th Ward Alderman Maureen Lewis. Lewis voted against the plan to bring MMA to the Arcada Theater last week. She said she spent the past week learning about mixed martial arts and decided the sport “has cleaned up its act.”

“I think the expo is an appropriate venue for this event,” Lewis said. “I would not be in favor of it downtown. I would not be in favor of it in a bar. I'm going to vote ‘yes' this time.”

The request still failed, but it will have a final shot when it hits the full city council, as will the original Arcada Theater plan.