Promoters of a caged fighting event are set to sue Wolverhampton Civic Hall after it backed out of hosting a controversial show.

Andy Lillis, vice president of Warrior Promotions, said the company had lost £16,000 after the Civic changed its mind about hosting Cage Warriors in March.

Around 650 tickets, some costing up to £100 a head, had already been sold for the event. Fighters had also been paid in advance to come over from the USA, Russia and Germany.

Civic Hall bosses pulled the plug on the March 4 event because they said the no-holds barred sport was not appropriate for the venue.

But Mr Lillis said similar events had been held in Coventry, Nottingham and London and the fights were legal. He said Warrior Promotions booked the Civic a month ago because of the interest in the sport in Wolverhampton and the number of fighters from the area.

Mr Lillis said: “From them cancelling we stand to lose £15,000 or £16,000. We will be taking legal action against them.

“We have lost a lot of money. If it had gone a week later it would have been another £20,000.”

Warrior Promotions had signed a deal with The Wrestling Channel on Sky to film the show.

Mr Lillis added: “We put the tickets on sale, we had three site meetings and had TV crews up there. It’s three months of work down the drain.”

Four Wolverhampton fighters from the Wolf Pack club were due to take part in the Civic Hall show.

The sport, also known as Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), involves elements of judo, thai boxing, boxing and ju-jitsu.

There are very few rules, with fighters only banned from eye gouging, striking the groin and kicking opponents when they are on the floor.

The Civic Hall event was supposed to the third in the CW Showdown series, which began in Sheffield last year, with VIP tables of 10 for £1,000 and other tickets for £35 and £25.

Crissie Rushton, spokeswoman for the Civic, said bosses axed the event after making inquiries into the sport.

She said they had reservations about it from the start and after doing more research into it decided it was not appropriate for the venue. The Hall usually hosts world class music acts and comedy shows.

John Ashley, who runs the Wolf Pack at Graiseley Recreation Centre, in Penn Road, had four fighters due to take part and said the cancellation was baffling.

Mr Ashley said there were fewer injuries in MMA than boxing and his fighters had been in training for the contests for six weeks.