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Lejeune hosts mixed martial arts fight Friday

JACKSONVILLE, N.C. — Fists, feet and bodies will be flailing at Friday night’s East Coast Champions Unleashed Mixed Martial Arts Pro/Am fight at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Lejeune’s first cagefighting event will showcase 10 bouts — six professional and four amateur — in Goettge Memorial Field House. Most of the fighters are active-duty service members, including three Marines.

“We tried to showcase and spotlight the military talent,” said Monica Sanford, owner of the Camp Lejeune Club Jiu Jitsu, who spearheaded the yearlong process of bringing the event to eastern North Carolina-based Marines and sailors.

Sanford said she learned that the Jacksonville area was full of fight fans a couple of years ago when she opened the first of two Jiu Jitsu centers after moving here with her husband, a lieutenant colonel.

“They just didn’t have [cagefighting] here, so we brought it to them,” she said. “We’re trying to put on a great show for these guys. This is the fastest-growing and most popular sport right now. These are trained professional fighters. They’re trained professional athletes.”

The event will include appearances by Jens Pulver of World Extreme Cagefighting fame and Miss North Carolina Jessica Jacobs. Doors to the field house open at 5 p.m. with the first fighters taking the cage at 7 p.m. Tickets are $25 at the gate. Proceeds will go to Marine Corps Community Services, Ronald McDonald House, Wounded Warriors and United Service Organizations.