ELYRIA — Sure there will be wings and burgers on the menu Friday night, but that’s not exactly what area fight fans are going to be salivating over.
Superior Cage Fighting will give Lorain County its first taste of high-profile mixed martial arts (MMA) in “Round 1 of the Quaker Fight Series” at the Quaker Steak & Lube in Sheffield, and the Elyria-based Team Powerhouse will send seven fighters into the cage for the first time.
“People think you can just throw one of these fights together, but that’s just not the case,” Superior CEO Nate White said. “We have spent months working on every key thing possible. We have fighters coming to this event from Wisconsin, Indiana, Oklahoma … and we have a whole fight team — the Knockout Factory — coming in from New York.”
The 20-fight event will be headlined by three main events — including a 145-pound title fight between Dave Lyons and John Strmac — and all seven Powerhouse fighters will be making their debuts in undercard bouts.
The Powerhouse fighters are Adam Bogle, Mike Garcher, Zack Goins, Josh Gregorek, Dominic Jones, Don Lou and Jose Martinez. Goins (Elyria High) and Martinez (Southview High) were standout wrestlers last season, and Gregorek (Southview) and Jones (Amherst) are both former state qualifiers during their high school wrestling careers.
But MMA isn’t about learning one discipline and becoming an expert at it. MMA fighters must be schooled in wrestling, boxing, Muay Thai, jiu jitsu, karate, kickboxing and old-fashioned street brawling — and usually need to employ most of them to walk out of the cage with a win.
“I came to my dad (Powerhouse manager Paul Goins) when I was in the eighth grade and told him I wanted to fight,” Goins said. “I was a little nervous because getting punched in the head didn’t sound like too much fun. But the first time I got punched in the face, it wasn’t too bad.
“Now I kind of enjoy it.”
That’s the mentality a cage fighter has to have.
“It takes a different kind of individual to be able to walk down the aisle and step into one of those cages,” Paul Goins said. “A lot of guys train for months to do this, then, when it’s just a few days from the fight and the realization of what they’re about to do hits them, they decide they don’t want to do this.”
Not only are the Powerhouse members getting to take part in a pioneering MMA event for Lorain County, the team has hooked up with owner John Dixon at the Powerhouse Gym — formally known as the Downtown Fitness Center – to build the area’s first MMA training studio on the gym’s third floor.
Dixon, who boxed in the Marine Corps, said the studio will include heavy bags, speed bags, wrestling mats and a sparring cage. The next-closest MMA training facility is in Medina.
“It’s a new venture and we’re excited about it,” Dixon said. “Nobody is doing anything like this around here. We’re kind of testing the MMA waters.”
The Powerhouse team expects to grow, which can only help all the fighters since each one brings his own style to the team and new tricks to teach the existing members. Also helping in the Powerhouse training is Gregorek, who specializes in wrestling and jui jitsu; “Big” Al Jones, who trains in boxing and wrestling; and Jason Engrish, an expert in Brazilian jiu jitsu and Kenpo karate.
“I used to travel to Dayton, Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland to fight,” Engrish said. “My family and friends would have to travel hours to see me. So it’s nice that we’ll have this local studio and this local event so that people can come and see our boys fight.”
Friday night’s event will be closed to the general public, but ticket-bearing customers will be able to remain in the restaurant past the 4 p.m. closing time. The gates to the fight area, which will be covered by a huge tent in case of bad weather, will open around 7 p.m. with the fights scheduled to start around 8.
Quaker Steak & Lube plans to broadcast the action on all 37 of its indoor televisions, allowing patrons to view the action from anywhere on the site and allowing people to buy food, get drinks or run to the bathroom without fear of missing any of the action.
“This will be a very professional operation,” Quaker owner Larry Campana said. “We plan on having several more fights here this summer. But we aren’t looking to just do this for one summer, we’re hoping to do this for years to come.”
Besides featuring some of the region’s top amateur fighters, the Round 1 event should have a feel of legitimacy to it as Ultimate Fighting Champion veterans Sean Salmon and Jason Dent — who will have his Mentor-based Griffon-Rawl fight team at the event — will be on hand to take in the action and meet with fans.
“This will be, by far, the biggest fight event Lorain County has ever seen,” Paul said.
Contact Shaun Bennett at 329-7137 or sbennett@chroniclet.com.

THE MAIN EVENT

WHAT: Superior Cage Fighting’s Round 1 of the Quaker Fight Series
WHERE: Quaker Steak & Lube, Sheffield
WHEN: Friday, 8 p.m. (Restaurant will open at 7 p.m. for ticket holders from 4-7 p.m.)
CARD: One title fight, two main events and 17 undercard fights
TICKETS: Call 934-WING or visit Quaker Steak & Lube. General admission presale tickets are $25 ($30 day of show).

MEET TEAM POWERHOUSE

Adam Bogle

AGE: 18
HEIGHT: 5-foot-7
WEIGHT: 135 pounds
RECORD: MMA debut
FIGHTING STYLE: Kenpo karate/Jiu jitsu
YEARS TRAINING: 8
OCCUPATION: Student at Lorain County Joint Vocational School (Elyria High) and a stucco finisher
NICKNAME: “The Atom Bomb”
FAVORITE FIGHT MOVIE: Bruce Lee’s “Fists of Fury”
BEST FIGHT MOMENT: When I was a green belt beating up all the black belts, usually guys twice my size.
WORST FIGHT MOMENT: Facing Zack (Goins) on the wrestling mats.

Mike Garcher

AGE: 26
HEIGHT: 6-0
WEIGHT: 198
RECORD: MMA debut
FIGHTING STYLE: Brawler/street fighter
YEARS TRAINING: 5
OCCUPATION: Tattoo artist at Sacred Skin in Sheffield, and a general contractor
NICKNAME: “The Barbarian”
FAVORITE FIGHT MOVIE: Jean-Claude Van Damme’s “Bloodsport”
BEST FIGHT MOMENT: There’s been some fun times during many of the brawls I’ve been in.
WORST FIGHT MOMENT: Probably getting in trouble for some of those brawls.

Zack Goins

AGE: 18
HEIGHT: 5-6
WEIGHT: 165
RECORD: MMA debut
FIGHTING STYLE: Wrestling/freestyle
YEARS TRAINING: 14 years wrestling, 4 years mixed martial arts
OCCUPATION: Student (Elyria High)
NICKNAME: “The Savage”
FAVORITE FIGHT MOVIE: Jean-Claude Van Damme’s “Bloodsport”
BEST FIGHT MOMENT: Tie between placing at the state wrestling tournament as a sophomore and winning the junior high state championship in eighth grade.
WORST FIGHT MOMENT: Losing badly (a 12-0 major decision to eventual state champ Jesse Dong) in the state semifinals last season.

Josh Gregorek

AGE: 24
HEIGHT: 6-0
WEIGHT: 185
RECORD: MMA debut
FIGHTING STYLE: Ground and pound
YEARS TRAINING: 10 years wrestling, 5 years boxing and judo
OCCUPATION: Construction
NICKNAME: “The Jaws of Life”
FAVORITE FIGHT MOVIE: Tie between “Raging Bull” and “Rocky IV”
BEST FIGHT MOMENT: Competing in various national wrestling tournaments.
WORST FIGHT MOMENT: Wrestling in my final college (Mount Union) match.

Dominic Jones

AGE: 20       
HEIGHT: 5-9
WEIGHT: 155
RECORD: MMA debut
FIGHTING STYLE: Wrestling
YEARS TRAINING: 10 years wrestling, 8 years jiu jitsu
OCCUPATION: Post office employee
FAVORITE FIGHT MOVIE: “Mortal Kombat”
BEST FIGHT MOMENT: Going to the state wrestling tournament for Amherst during my senior season.
WORST FIGHT MOMENT: Not making it to state my junior season, missing it by just one match.

Don Lou

AGE: 31
HEIGHT: 5-7
WEIGHT: 160
RECORD: MMA debut
FIGHTING STYLE: Freestyle
YEARS TRAINING: 5
OCCUPATION: Sub-contractor
NICKNAME: “The Filipino Prince”
FAVORITE FIGHT MOVIE: Bruce Lee’s “Fists of Fury”
BEST FIGHT MOMENT: Taking third place in the Erie Shore Conference (for Midview) wrestling tournament.
WORST FIGHT MOMENT: Getting beat up as a kid in a backyard fight while my older brother watched.

Jose Martinez

AGE: 18
HEIGHT: 5-10
WEIGHT: 187
RECORD: MMA debut
FIGHTING STYLE: Striker/wrestling
YEARS TRAINING: 12 years boxing, 7 years wrestling, 2 years karate and kickboxing
OCCUPATION: Student (Southview High)
FAVORITE FIGHT MOVIE: “Cinderella Man”
BEST FIGHT MOMENT: I won the gold medal for boxing during the 2003 and ’04 Junior Olympics.
WORST FIGHT MOMENT: I haven’t had one.
 

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