Battle of the Shields 2011

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In January of 2011 in Montebello, California, BadgeFights hosted their annual Battle of the Shields LA Cage MMA Classic. BadgeFights brings professional police officers and firefighters together to compete against each other to benefit charities for fallen heroes.

This year, the main card was the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) versus Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), and undercard the Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACoFD) versus Palm Beach, Florida Police All Stars. The Palm Beach participants flew into California on their own time and dime to compete against LACoFD.

One of the participating LA City firefighters, Terry Tuzzolino, came into the cage with more than ten years of wrestling experience throughout school. Tuzzolino won several championships along the way, including the NCAA Division 2 Championship in 2000.

All of the money raised went to charities set up by each competing team. Firefighter/Paramedic with LACoFD, Donald Bailey, explained, "LA County's charity for this fight is the Hewison family foundation. One of our firefighter's wives has colon cancer and so the money we're raising tonight is going to his family."

Bailey went into the cage with a total of six years grappling experience behind him and a winning attitude, despite the fact that his opponent was the largest competitor of the night.

Michael Caro, General Manager of BadgeFights and Engineer with LAFD stated, "It's an exciting event. There's no striking in it, it's all take-downs, throws and submissions; because a lot of these guys have to go to work the next day so were trying not to get them knocked out too much."

These BadgeFights MMA events began about 5 years ago. "I was looking for a venue that we could raise funds for fallen firefighters and police officers that was out of the typical fundraisers," claimed Gracie Black belt Ken Gabrielson with Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA).

In the past couple of years, BadgeFights has really exploded with currently 65 teams across the United States, along with two teams from Sweden and Italy. Michael Caro stated that it looks as though BadgeFights may go international very soon.

Ken Gabrielson expressed, "Keep in mind these are not professional athletes, they are all professional firefighters or police officers who are out here to have a good time. And they are putting their heart and soul just like they do when they are on the front lines fighting crimes or fighting fires. It's for a great cause and it's just an awesome program."

According to Michael Caro, the reason they are participating in these events is to honor the fallen that have served for us and making sure that their families are taken care of.

With more than 2,100 people at the event, a lot of money was raised for both the LA Fallen Firefighters & Police Officers Associations. Unfortunately for the fire service, the LAPD took the win this year.

If you are interested in becoming one of the firefighter or police officer participants in next years Battle of the Shields event, please visit http://badgefights.com/.



Author:Barbara Brooks - Video, Renee Marquart - Text