The City of Mesquite was the backdrop for an extraordinary charity event last Friday through Sunday, Oct. 16-18.

The event was hosted by Pirates Paradise Paintball and the CasaBlanca Hotel and Casino, and featured three days of paintball war games and one night of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fights.

The charity event was to benefit the “Extreme Couture GI Foundation,” an organization founded by MMA superstar Randy Couture for the benefit of America's veterans.

Couture, a veteran of the U.S. Army, started this foundation to help raise awareness for veteran issues, as well as facilitate funding for some of the basic needs of the brave men and women who have served this country.

It was the first time that Extreme Couture has presented one of its “combat weekend’s” in Mesquite, and event organizers were overjoyed at their success in the Virgin Valley.

Tim Andrus, owner of Pirates Paradise and one of the organizers of the event, said that “it was better than expected. We had a great turnout for both the paintball events and the fights and we are more than pleased with the results. Randy Couture has already given the okay to put this on again next year, so we will be going back to work very soon to begin the preparations for next year's event. Hopefully this can become an annual event.”

Andrus said that there were over 150 participants in the paintball games that began on Friday.

The first two days of the paintball games were basically practice sessions, giving players the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the course.

It all led up to Sundays “big game,” a scenario set up to recreate Operation Rivergate (the U.S. Military’s 2005 invasion of Baghdad).

During the three days of paintball games, a raffle was also held with over $30,000 of donated paintball gear raffled off for the charity.

“It is important to note,” Andrus said, “that unlike many other charities that give maybe 80% of their proceeds to their charity, Couture’s GI Foundation donates 100%. Randy actually pays the administrative costs himself.”

The highlight of the weekend was the MMA card of fights held Saturday night in the events center of the CasaBlanca.

13 bouts took place that night with nary an empty seat in sight.

There were some nervous moments leading up to Saturday night's fights, as Mesquite was fairly new to the world of hosting MMA.

There were some that did not want to see the event take place for fear of an unruly crowd.

“This was a great event with a great crowd,” Andrus said. “We had members of the CasaBlanca staff tell us that these were some of the most well behaved patrons they had ever hosted. The fears of unruliness were totally unfounded.”

During the fights the crowd was loud and appreciative of the work going on in the ring, but there was never a hint of disturbance.

Much like the fighters themselves, who pummeled each other for nine minutes only to embrace and shake hands at fight's end, the hundreds in attendance were respectful, and they were treated to some really good fighting.

“These are amateurs,” Andrus said, “but a lot of times the amateurs give you the best fights. You don’t see too many of the first round knock outs (there was one) and to be honest with you, I watch a lot of these fights and these were some of the best fights I have ever seen.”

And while the crowd was boisterous all night long, especially when 22 seconds into the first round of the sixth bout Rob Isenor connected with a right hook to the jaw of Alex Brooks who was out cold before he hit the canvas, they raised the roof for hometown hero Drayton Woods.

Woods is a graduate of Virgin Valley High (a member of the class of ’04), and he is no stranger to fans of Bulldog wrestling.

Woods was fighting in his first MMA bout, and while both fighters came in at the same weight, Woods appeared to be quite a bit smaller than his adversary.

It did not matter.

This fight was never in doubt from the moment the referee announced “Fight!”

Woods was a ball of fire, manhandling his opponent through the first two of three rounds and when his opponent, Mike Hillcoat finally had Woods underneath him midway through the third, the crowd went into an uproar.

Woods responded by standing his man up and reversing the trend.

With Woods now on top he freely began to pummel the face of Hillcoat with the ref watching closely, ready to call the fight should Hillcoat appear too dazed.

The fight went the distance, and Woods had won his first bout.

Asked later if he had any hopes of continuing on and becoming a pro, Woods said, “this feels great and I am going to keep pursuing it and see how far it takes me.”

There will be obstacles to overcome, but perhaps Woods will be able to display his abilities again next year.

Not only was the Couture foundation overjoyed with the success of this weekend's event, and not only do they want to come back next year, but according to Andrus, they would like to start doing these events several times a year.

All that is needed now is some tolerance and understanding from some folks who might have been unduly worried.

The Extreme Couture GI Foundation is nothing short of a magnificent charity, one that deserves all the support it can get.