SPOKANE, Wash. — An MMA style fight between two 12-year-old girls is gaining a lot of attention in the Inland Northwest. The pre-teens are facing off at Northern Quest Casino on Friday night in front of a sold-out crowd.
The pair has trained for nearly their entire lives as their parents are also professional fighters. The event's promoter, Rick Little, said this is more like an "exhibition" than an actual fight. He added that it is more about giving the young athletes an opportunity to experience being in front of a crowd and stepping onto the floor.
While some see it as a competitive athletic event, others do not support the event.
Bill Black, the designer of the "Conquest of the Cage" logo, does not support the fight and wishes his design was not on the poster.
"This thing kind of stuck out to me as, this doesn't seem all that cool, I don't know if it's a great look," Black said.
He worked for Northern Quest several years ago and was asked to design a logo back in 2003 for the casino's fight promotion. Black said the casino loved his design as soon as they saw the concept.
"I think there were five people in the room, 'That's it! Perfect!'" Black said.
Every time a fight is hosted with his logo, he said it brings him pride knowing that he created it. Black has decades of experience but this is the first time he's felt concern about how his work is being used.
"Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that it would be used to promote a fight between young kids," Black explained.
Little said he sees the fight as any other sporting event that children are involved in because the two are passionate about what they do. If anything, this is more about giving the girls the experience of walking out onto the floor.
"You get people that are iffy on the sport and don't follow the sport and now see two girls on a poster with a cage on it... I get it. They're going to be a little bit worried," Little said.
Black technically doesn't own the rights to the logo any more but says he won't share it, if kids are used with it in the future.
"I probably will pull it from my samples that I use to illustrate my work to other potential clients," Black said.
Little said he's okay with that and has no problem using other marketing in the future. He said the poster was made more for the girls to have something to remember. They've been training for most of their lives and will likely be professional fighters like their parents.
"With the amount of training and effort they put in, they need to be competing. You need to see where your skill level truly is at," Little said.
KREM reached out to Northern Quest about the logo but they have not returned our request for comment.