Written by Scott Swerbinsky

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It's a great day for local fight fans as the Canton Civic Center plays host to a great card of fights this evening at the latest Fightfest event.  There's 20 bouts on tap tonight, including a former prominent Ohio State wrestler (taking on a Michigan fighter) and also a former NFL player in action.  My cousin will be there to cover it, and previews the event for us today. Mixed martial arts is without question the fastest growing sport in the world today. Over the next sixteen days I will have the pleasure of covering five events in this great sport.

There is no better way to get things started than with a live event. This Friday night, at the Canton Civic Center, FightFest brings a 20 bout event that has local talent piled on top of more local talent. 
 
Team Instigator, based out of Canton, will have seven of their fighters in action. I have had the opportunity to meet a few guys that represent Team Instigator and they are all class acts. The team as a whole is easily one of the most respected in this area. 
 
Tony Sylvester (9-1) is the FightFest Heavyweight champ and will look to keep Team Instigator's reputation in tact when he takes on Matt Eckerle who holds a 4-4 record. Sylvester is a former Ohio State wrestler and will look to punish his opponent who just so happens to be from Michigan. I look for this Buckeye to win, as always seems to be the case, when taking on anything for that state up north. 
 
Another highlight of the card is going to be Bobby Jones making his MMA debut. Jones is a former NFL player that attended Wadsworth High School in Canton. He played a few years with the New York Giants and looks to make his name in the fight game. He will step into the cage with Darby Hodge who holds a 1-0 record. The former Penn State Nittany Lion should have a bunch of family and friends ringside and isn't expected to let them down. 
 
Full fight card: 
 
Amateur 
 
185 Bart Bender 1-2-0 (Independent-Cleveland,OH.) vs Shane Sutherland 1-0-0 (Sutherland MMA-Bay City,MI.) 
 
Hvy Neal Nutter 0-0-0 (Team Sidemount-Wadsworth, OH.) vs Dave Lama 0-0-0 (Precision Fighting-Reynoldsburg,OH.) 
 
135 Ken Mark 0-1-0 (Anytime MMA-Canton,OH.) vs Mike Criswell 0-0-0 (Team Apex Predator-Sandusky,OH.) 
 
170 Alejandro Ortiz 1-1-0 (Independent-Cleveland,OH.) vs Kyle Woodruff 0-0-0 (Sutherland MMA-Bay City,MI.) 
 
155 Eric Rex 0-1-0 (Jungle Fight Team-Canton,OH.) vs Noah Kemp 0-2-0 (Painesville MMA-Painesville,OH.) 
 
Hvy Pete Hunter 1-0-0 (Team Beatdown-Sandusky,OH.) vs Jeff Hughes 0-0-0 (Team Instigator-Canton,OH.) 
 
205 David Crowley 0-0-0 (Team Sidemount-Wadsworth,OH.) vs Chad Herrick 1-1-0 (Sutherland MMA-Bay City,MI.) 
 
145 Bo Coleman 1-1-0 (Team Beatdown-Sandusky,OH.) vs Nick Norton (Independent-Massilion,OH.) 
 
170 Phil Montogomery 0-0-0 (Team Apex Predator-Sandusky,OH.) vs Kenny Jackson 0-0-0 (Team Instigator-Canton,OH.) 
 
155 Fred Cuevas 0-0-0 (Team Jose Delgado-Cleveland,OH.) vs Mario Gallo 0-0-0 (Team Instigator-Canton,OH.) 
 
205 Matt Mehnert 0-2-0 (Anytime MMA-Canton,OH.) vs Daniel Frydrychowski 0-0-0 (Independent-Shiloh,OH.) 
 
185 Greg Boley 0-1-0 (Infinity Martial Arts-Cambridge,OH.) vs Charlie Cosens 1-0-0 (Sutherland MMA-Bay City,MI.) 
 
205 Chase Minor 2-0-0 (Team Sidemount-Wadsworth,OH.) vs Jason Davis 1-1-0 (Academy of Soo Do Thai-Detroit,MI.) 
 
Hvy Thad Schlichter 1-0-0 (Matthews MMA-Washington Courthouse,OH.) vs Terry Smith 0-0-0 (Team Instigator-Canton,OH.) 
 
205 Josh Miller 2-0-0 (Team AUF-Columbus,Oh.) vs Brian Hensley 5-1-0 (Team Instigator-Canton,OH.) 
 
Hvy Bobby Jones 0-0-0 (Team Sidemount-Wadsworth,OH.) vs Darby Hodge 1-0-0 (Matthews MMA-Washington Courthouse,OH.) 
 
Professional 
 
170 Tiawan Howard 1-1-0 (Rising Dragon-Parma Heights,OH.) vs Mark Lesley 1-3-0 (Total Jiu-Jitsu-Columbia City,IN.) 
 
185 Chris Canale 0-0-0 (Team Sidemount-Youngstown,OH.) vs Eric Hedlund 0-1-0 (Team Predator-NC) 
 
Hvy Anthony Ferguson 8-12-0 (Team Midknight-Medina,OH.) vs Joe McCall 2-0-0 (Team Instigator-Canton,OH.) 
 
Hvy Matt Eckerle 4-4-0 (Independent-Detroit,MI.) vs Tony Sylvester 9-1-0 (Team Instigator-Canton,OH.) 
 
When you look at some of the local talent on this card, it's hard not to get excited. What a great night FightFest has in store for us fans. I can't wait to get down to the Civic Center for that opening bell that is going to start an action packed night.