TERRE HAUTE — I realized Saturday’s “ultimate fighting” card at the Zorah Shrine Temple was different than other sports I’ve covered when I approached Daniel Hopper after he tapped out to Kyle Gray in the fourth round of a national amateur title bout.
Having noticed the Mount Carmel, Ill., fighter lost a fair amount of blood — some of it almost splattered on me and my nice clothes outside the eight-sided cage — I entered Hopper’s dressing room prepared to wait several minutes for him to be ready to talk.
Then I saw Hopper, still dripping blood from his nose and stained with dried blood on his upper body, laughing and telling one of his helpers how much fun he had trading punches, kicks and holds with Gray.
No need to wait, I figured.
“That was fun,” the 155-pound Hopper emphasized after I introduced myself. “More blood, more fun.”
He meant it too.
Not all of the 12 bouts were bloody and gory, but they all featured plenty of fast-paced action.
If you’re not sure whether to attend the next mixed-martial-arts event at the Shrine Temple, I’ll offer a little advice. Don’t take small children and don’t go if you’re squeamish (like my wife). But if you can handle seeing a little blood, check it out in the company of adults. You won’t be bored.
Just be careful how close you sit to the action, as former Indiana State women’s basketball players Kristen Weddle and Melanie Boeglin found out from their ringside seats. They cringed whenever the bloody combatants brawled toward the side of the cage closest to them.
Despite their strong desire to avoid flying blood, both seemed to have a good time.
“I think it’s pretty exciting, pretty intense,” Boeglin said.
“I’m impressed by their athletic ability,” Weddle noted. “You’ve got to have some endurance to do this.”
She’s right. None of the 23 fighters (one guy appeared in two bouts) appeared out of shape, although I was mildly disappointed that I didn’t get to see any 250-pounders battling it out.
“It’s not [Las] Vegas,” mentioned longtime MMA fan Darrell Shouse of Terre Haute between bouts. “But they’ve had some pretty decent fights here.”
“I’ve watched this stuff [on television] since UFC 1,” Terre Haute resident Bucky Whitlock said. “I watched it when there were no rules and now it’s become a disciplined sport. These fights [in Terre Haute] are not the quality of fights you see on TV, but there have been two or three that were really good. Overall, it’s been pretty good here.”
“I thought the MMA card was entertaining for a local show,” assessed Greg Brown, also of Terre Haute. “I was impressed by that local kid [Dustin] Neace and by the fact that most fighters really left it all in the ring.
“Aside from the late start, it was well organized and [promoter Jason] Reinhardt put on a nice production. The venue is really sweet for the fans, as there really are no bad seats in the joint. I had hoped for a larger turnout, but the crowd was decent and very vocal and supportive of the fighters. I’m a huge MMA fan and I hope we get another card in Terre Haute soon.”
Brown will probably get his wish. Reinhardt, who estimated that 760 fans attended the Courage Fighting Championships (CFC) show Saturday, said he plans to bring another card to Terre Haute in September or October.
“I’ve been all over the world at MMA events and I was very surprised at how the fans in Terre Haute were so educated about the sport,” said Reinhardt, a fighter as well as a promoter from Decatur, Ill. “They were great fans, some of the best I’ve ever seen.”
David Reinhardt, Jason’s father and CFC president, said they lost money on this card, so they’re hoping “a few hundred more people” will show up next time.
“Everybody I talked to really enjoyed it,” David Reinhardt added. “We look forward to coming back.”
David Hughes can be reached by phone at 1-800-783-8742, Option 4, or at (812) 231-4224; by e-mail at david.hughes@tribstar.com; or by fax at (812) 231-4321.
Hughes News & Views
Hughes News and Views: Terre Haute MMA event packs solid punch
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Terre Haute runner sets up race to help Boston
Having competed in the Boston Marathon once before in 2003, 35-year-old Majel Wells of Terre Haute thought she should give it another try in 2013.
“My goal was just to finish and enjoy Boston,” she reflected this week. “I had an injury [runner’s knee] beforehand, so I wasn’t too worried about beating my time from 2003 [4 hours, 10.20 seconds].
“But nobody cares about what your time is at Boston anyway.”
From what I’ve heard over the years, she’s right. Unless you’re a super-serious runner, the Boston Marathon has been more about taking in the atmosphere and having fun than placing in the top 50, although Wells was pleased that she beat her previous time by finishing in 3:55.19 on April 15.
Obviously, her race time wasn’t the most vivid memory that Wells took away from her 2013 Boston experience. -
Former South players to play in Saylor benefit game
I had my first phone conversation with Mike Saylor since mid-February on Thursday and he sounded good.
The former Terre Haute South High School boys basketball coach, who’s been battling cancer this year, has been traveling back and forth to the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston for chemotherapy treatments. -
Recent South swimmers Roach, Bray heading to DI nationals
I’m sure most of you with office jobs can relate.
When work gets busy, sometimes it’s easy to skim over our emails. After all, how many times do we need to read the same nonsense from alleged Nigerians wanting to make us rich if we’ll send them several thousand dollars first?
So after having three consecutive days off, that almost happened to me when I returned to work Tuesday. Then I realized that the message from Jeff Thompson, Terre Haute South High School’s boys and girls swimming coach, contained significant news. -
NCAA Division III basketball tournament returns to Rose-Hulman
The last time Rose-Hulman served as host for the NCAA Division III men’s basketball tournament, its game was played inside an old World War II airplane hangar.
You “old-timers” should know the building I’m talking about and the matchup wasn’t really that long ago — March 6, 1997, to be exact. -
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Written by award-winning Kyle Keiderling of Henderson, Nev., and released in hardcover format in mid-December, the 480-page “Trophies and Tears” documents the rich tradition of the University of Evansville men’s basketball program through recent interviews and research of old yearbooks and newspaper/scrapbook clippings.
The book contains many cheery moments — behind-the-scenes details of all five NCAA College Division (now known as Division II) championships won in the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s by the Purple Aces and their legendary coach Arad McCutchan — although some of those moments don’t seem so cheery from an Indiana State perspective when the Sycamores found themselves on the losing end of scores. -
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Bryan Egli and Joe Puthoff, both Rose-Hulman basketball starters I covered in the late 1990s, took their degrees from the prestigious engineering institute and found successful careers in the Indianapolis area.
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Almost 10 years ago, February 2002 to be exact, the New England Patriots upset the high-powered St. Louis Rams to win Super Bowl XXXVI in New Orleans, the Winter Olympics entertained spectators in Salt Lake City and Terre Haute South High School’s girls basketball team started its tournament run toward a Class 4A state title.
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When your favorite NFL team is threatening to finish 0-16, you have to figure a few fans will jump off the bandwagon.
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Jack Butcher, Howard Sharpe and Bill Stearman.
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Lori Wood, the Tribune-Star’s Indianapolis 500 correspondent since 2000, planned to visit a friend in California and take in the IndyCar Las Vegas 300 as a ticket-buying fan last weekend.
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Indiana State football alum Chris “Big C” Hicks will turn 58 Saturday and he knows exactly what he wants for his birthday.
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The Engineers have not endured a losing season since 2004. But they’ve opened this season at 0-2, causing Sokol to admit they’re desperate for a win.
“We’re all very hungry for a victory,” he said after practice Thursday. “We all want to taste victory really, really bad.” -
Valley semipro football team reaches championship of IFL
The West Central Wildcats’ semipro football team from Terre Haute has been written about before in this column space over the last two years.
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When I heard the NFL lockout finally ended this week, I looked for someone affiliated with the Indianapolis Colts to get a reaction.
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Amateur boxing card set for outdoors at Show-Me's
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