Misleading headline on my story

Andre "Bone Breaker" Beffenbarg, left, celebrates winning his first mixed martial arts fight, stopping Wyatt Marker at 15 seconds of the first round.








I attended the Legends of Fighting Championship event on Saturday at The Plex and saw some great fight action. The bout featured 13 matches between fighters mostly from around the Indiana/Ohio area. I had a great time watching and photographing the action.

I wrote a story about the event for The News-Sentinel that was published today (Monday, May 21), and the headline on the story is misleading, in my opinion. The headline reads "Local fighters punished in Legends Championship." In defense of the headline writer, that person probably read the paragraph about Bobby Martinez' gash on the side of his nose and described it as punishment. Someone just reading the headline might get the impression that Fort Wayne fighters didn't perform well. That just wasn't the case, and it certainly wasn't my intention to give that impression. I thought my story actually spoke more to the strengths of the local fighters and not describing it as punishment. I certainly plan to bring this to the attention of the headline writer, when I find out who wrote it. It is generally that person's job to read the whole piece to figure out the importance of the article, and I'm not sure that's what happened.

In any case, I apologize to anyone who read that headline and took a meaning from it that I did not intend.

This weekend should be a treat to MMA fans. On Friday, the Legends of Fighing Championship will host an event at the 8 Second Saloon in Indianapolis on Friday. In the LFC main event, Fort Wayne fighter Anthony Lapsley takes a 9-1 record against undefeated Kyle Gibbons (9-0). Then on Saturday, Chuck Liddell and Quinton Jackson square off in UFC 71 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, also available on pay-per-view. That should be a great match to watch.

Another fight to put on the radar is the match between Fort Wayne native Jon Fitch who carries a 18-2 record against 11-5 Roan Carneiro in UFC fight Night, JUne 12 on Spike TV. some writes have said Fitch is the best MMA fighter no one has heard about. This match will be his national TV debut and is scheduled as a co-main event.

From left, Jaron Markland, 6, Mikayla Markland, 7, and Tanya Markland react as Wade Markland is forced to submit in his fight against Chris Higi at the Legend of Fighting Championship contest on Saturday at The Plex.