OLD ORCHARD BEACH — With the summer baseball season over, The Ballpark in Old Orchard Beach will welcome a new sporting event to the venue this month: mixed martial arts.

A first-time event called King of the Beach will take over The Ballpark on Saturday, Aug. 23, with the main draw an MMA fight card. Other events include an arm-wrestling tournament, an Art of Grappling jiu-jitsu tournament, and a bikini fitness contest.

While The Ballpark has hosted concerts and barbeque cook-offs in its 30-year existence, it has never hosted an event the likes of King of the Beach.

The event is the brainchild of two old high school friends from Biddeford, who reunited thanks to MMA. Allen Berube is a former fighter at the highest level of MMA ”“ Ultimate Fighting Championships ”“ and came up with the idea of promoting a local MMA show with longtime friend Marty Adams, owner of Adams & Sons Paving of Arundel.

Adams has trained in mixed martial arts for years while running his own company.

Berube said when he was challenged to plan and promote a show in southern Maine, he knew Adams was the right person to ask for help.

“I think we’re doing a lot of cool things. We ”¦ really just want to stick around the sport and make some fun things happen,” said Berube, who returned to Maine a couple years ago after pursuing his MMA dream in Florida.

 “It’s really becoming something,” said Berube. “We got approved by the town of Old Orchard Beach ”¦ for (use of) the square, so now we’re doing the weigh-ins the square the night before the fight.”

Berube said he got approval for use of the square for weigh-ins at an OOB town council meeting on Tuesday, where he also had to try and sell the merits of the sport to those in attendance.

“I feel like I won them over a little bit ”¦ because the perception they have of what a fighter is isn’t exactly what a fighter is. Everyone pictures a fighter as being a bad person, and this loud, rowdy person. These MMA fighters and myself, we had to train so hard, there was no time for partying,” said Berube. “We’re trying to change that view.”

While selling the sport to the town has been a challenge, so has been the task of trying to bring in local fighters, as many of the best have been locked up by New England Fights out of Lewiston.

But Berube said that with his time with the UFC, he established enough connections to bring in quality fighters from Florida, Nevada, Colorado and Canada, while still finding a way to sign a handful of locals.

“We built a card that’s rock-solid, and it’s all good fights. Great matchups. There’s not going to be anyone that’s mismatched,” said Berube. “I’m a fan of the sport, too, so I can’t wait to watch my own card that I put together.”

The event will last all day, starting with the Art of Grappling tournament in the morning, followed by a bikini fitness contest ”“ organized by International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness professional Kristy Leconte ”“ and arm-wrestling tournament in the afternoon before the MMA fight card closes out the day.

The fight card has co-main events, with Portland native Josh Watson taking on Braden Bice, and Ran Weathers dueling with Gilbert Burgos.

Berube said his and Adams’ plan is to host 2-3 events like this a year and to help grow the sport in New England. The inaugural event will also help raise money for the charity Grahamtastic, and any subsequent events will also be tied to a charity.

“We want to get past the first one, of course,” said Berube. “But we’re definitely looking forward to future events.”

For more information on the event, visit www.kotbfights.com.

— Staff Writer Wil Kramlich can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or sports@journaltribune.com. Follow him on Twitter @WilTalkSports.