UFC
UFC NEWS: Fight for the Troops 2 a success, Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund trustee believes third event to come in 2012
Jan 24, 2011 - 8:42:30 AM UFC NEWS: Fight for the Troops 2 a success, Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund trustee believes third event to come in 2012

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Saturday's UFC Fight for the Troops 2 event marked another successful fund raiser for the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund from the UFC. The event brought in over $600,000 in phone donations during the event alone, with millions more expected online through the UFC's auction and the IFHF home site.

With the original Fight for the Troops event in December 2009, the UFC helped to complete the National Intrepid Center of Excellence by raising nearly $5 million. This year's event is going to help fund the research into traumatic brain injury to which the center is dedicated. IFHF trustee Marty Edelman talked after the event and expects a third event from the UFC in 2012 for the fund.

"Our relationship with Dana White, and Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, has been both personal and professional and philanthropic for years now," he said in an interview with MMAJunkie.com. "This is 'Fight for the Troops 2,' and you know how each UFC fight has a number? Well, we'll do No. 3 probably next year, and we'll just keep going until all the needs of our young, wonderful warriors and their families are taken care of."

"We determine the need, and so far, we've never failed in raising the money we need," he said. "So we just keep doing it until we have enough. We have about $13 or $14 million for research. We'd like to get to $20 million. And we'll do whatever we need to to get there."

Penick's Analysis: Saturday's event was a very well produced fund-raiser, and though it's slightly counter-intuitive to raise money for traumatic brain injury research with a sport that can cause damage to a competitor's brain, the UFC does a great job with these events. It was a fun night of fights, and helped do a lot of good for this very good cause. The video packages for the soldiers afflicted by TBI from their time in combat were heartbreaking, and that the UFC was able to help bring more money to the research of these injuries was a great thing. A third event in 2012 will be very welcome for all involved.