Published: July 01, 2007 12:15 am         

SUNDAY SPECIAL: It’s all the rage in the cage

Fighters excited to bring growing sport to Wabash Valley, say its safe

TERRE HAUTE — Like it or not, mixed martial arts — or MMA for short — has arrived as a major player in the culture of U.S. sports.

The sport that began with basically no rules and marketed itself as a brutal bloodsport in the early 1990s has made strides to transform its image into respectability.

Many participants declare the sport safer than football or boxing, including Terre Haute resident Justin Curtis, who was scheduled to fight Saturday in an amateur bout in Terre Haute’s first mixed martial arts card.

Curtis said he started watching UFC on TV during college at Indiana State.

“I always thought ‘these guys are nuts,’” Curtis said. “But for some stupid reason I said yes I’ll do it. I started training boxing in addition to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.”

Curtis, a 26-year-old with degrees in English and Criminology from Indiana State, said he likes that the sport requires competitors to utilize a variety of skills, and that fighters are not allowed to be used as a punching bag for a prolonged time.

“The whole point is to get him to submit. Sometimes you watch boxing and guys just get beat up and look like they got in a car wreck,” Curtis said. “MMA is just exciting, and I got hurt more playing high school football.”

Terre Haute’s Jon Tarrh, 25, has been fighting professionally since he was 18. Tarrh was scheduled for a fight in the octagon-shaped cage Saturday.

“I was just excited to fight in Terre Haute. This is the first time its been in the area,” said Tarrh, a 2000 graduate of Terre Haute North.

Tarrh wrestled at North and has been doing Taekwondo since he was six years old.

But Tarrh said Terre Haute boxer Terry Ray was who first got him interested in fighting for a living.

“The first live fight I ever saw was one of his,” Tarrh said. “I’ve been boxing for about nine years and practicing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for about eight years.”

People are starting to see mixed martial arts “as a sport and not a spectacle,” Tarrh said.

Pay-per-view fights are popular and several cable-TV networks have picked up mixed martial arts of some kind.

So when Jason Reinhardt had the opportunity to bring his traveling fighting league, Courage Fighting Championships 9, to Terre Haute it was a no-brainer.

“The fact is we’ve got a lot of great fighters from the Indiana area,” Reinhardt said. “It was a perfect match. Terre Haute is a great town, there’s a lot of great fight fans out of Terre Haute.”

Reinhardt is a student and teacher of Miletich Fighting Systems, the creation of one of the pioneer’s of the sport, Pat Miletich.

Reinhardt, who holds an 18-0 MMA record according to www.fcfighter.net, was scheduled to fight Ultimate Fighter Championship lightweight Roger Huerta last September. Reinhardt had to withdraw from his first potential UFC fight because of an injury, which is even more disappointing for him now, considering Huerta has become one of the biggest up and coming UFC stars.

But the 37-year-old Decatur, Ill., native isn’t giving up hope for making his big-time debut. Reinhardt, also an alternate for UFC Ultimate Fighter 5 — the reality show on Spike TV — last fought on April 21 in the Courage Fighting Championships 8 at Decatur’s Masonic Temple, but his primary focus right now is promoting.

“My whole thing is, this is my life, martial arts is my life since a young kid,” Reinhardt said. “It’s an extension of what I’ve done my whole life. I love what I do. I like to see these young up-and-coming fighters get opportunities.”

Tarrh has traveled around the country to Atlanta, Ga., and Las Vegas to fight.

“I’m looking to go overseas next year,” said Tarrh, who said he automatically went pro because there are only a few small differences. One of the differences is that amateurs use six-ounce gloves instead of 4-ounce.

Curtis, a welterweight, hopes to turn pro by the end of the summer. He hopes his fights can help pay for graduate school at ISU and eventually law school.

A student of Jack McVicker’s school on the corner of 7th and Walnut Streets, Curtis said Friday that he hoped he wouldn’t have to throw a punch. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighters like Curtis hope to use their grappling skills to force an opponent to submit by tapping out.

“Ideally, I won’t throw a punch. I’ll apply a submission then have a beer with the guy afterward,” said Curtis, who began wrestling in first grade at Plainfield and was an “adequate” high school wrestler — not an uncommon past for many mixed martial artists.

McVicker teaches Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to a handful of men in Terre Haute and Champaign, Ill., who are having some success with mixed martial arts competition. Purportedly one of the top American black belts in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at 160 pounds in the country, McVicker said he’s not surprised by the popularity of mixed martial arts fighting.

He’s also impressed by how competitors have developed their skills.

“They’ve got to really have the boxing, kickboxing, the wrestling, then they need the grappling or Jiu-Jitsu on the ground — and you’ve got to be in phenomenal shape,” said McVicker, who hoped to make it to Saturday’s event in Terre Haute, but also leaves today for a competition in Rio de Janeiro.

Another local athlete, Shane Meehan, is bringing a mixed martial arts card to Terre Haute on July 28. Meehan has been training with Ray.

The degree of success of Saturday’s fight card might be a sign of what’s to come in the future for mixed martial arts in Terre Haute.

Reinhardt, who has drawn crowds of close to 1,800 fans for shows in Decatur, would love to see his promotion succeed in Terre Haute.

“If the people will support it, I’ll bring three or four events a year here,” Reinhardt said.