ForeFront Field hosts MMA event; more planned this summer

AVON — Instead of nine innings, ForeFront Field played host to nine bouts Friday night. The Lake Erie Crushers opened their doors to mixed martial arts for the first time in stadium history when the Legends Fight Series placed a ring at home plate and put on Friday Night Fights, a nine-fight card showcasing the region's MMA talent. Friday was the first of three Friday Night Fights coming to ForeFront Field this summer. LFS will return for encores July 31 and Aug. 28. "We just wanted to give the fighters, and the fans, a different experience," said Troy Speakman, co-founder of LFS. "There are not many fights in the Midwest that are in baseball stadiums or arenas. They're usually held in gymnasiums or empty soccer fields just to put a cheap budget show together. That's not what I want. I want to brand Legends Fight Series separate from everything and go forward with a better product for the people and the fighter in the Midwest." Friday's card featured a variety of weight classes and included both amateur and pro fighters. Six of the fighters hailed from the Cleveland area with two from Lorain County — Drew Hatcher, an amateur welterweight from Elyria, and Devin Polk, an amateur bantamweight from Avon. Hatcher had a scary moment when he was knocked out by Ty Oliver. The Elyria native was out cold for a few minutes, but ended up walking out of the ring on his own accord to a standing ovation from the hometown crowd. Polk, who was making his MMA debut in front of a hometown crowd, took on Damount Anthony and won by arm bar submission 2:15 into the first round. He riled up the crowd by straddling the top of the ring. "It was surreal," Polk said. "I grew up coming to this ballpark for baseball games. I live on Miller, so I'm less than a minute away. To come in here, fight in front of my city, it means everything. It's so nice." Speakman has been promoting events for 35 years, estimating that Friday's event was at least his 250th. He and another partner spent years promoting events through Ohio Combat League, which was predominately based in the Columbus area. During that time, OCL produced about 45 consecutive events, but Speakman wanted to develop a broader reach throughout the Midwest. Which is why he and co-founder Aaron Boggs established LFS. Friday was the first event produced by LFS. The promotion group is not limiting itself to MMA as it will host a boxing card at the Land of Illusion Adventure Park in Middletown on June 13. "Troy's vision of a brand that's both boxing and MMA is exciting to me because there's a lot of collaboration for the fans," Boggs said. "But also going bigger than just Ohio. We want to be Midwestern. When you have Ohio Combat League and you think about how to make this appeal bigger, the brand matters. So we put some thought into it and started to market it." Speakman has experience promoting events outdoors as he did a two-night back-to-back boxing/MMA card three years ago at Huntington Field, home of the Columbus Clippers. On Friday, weather more than cooperated for LFS' inaugural event. About 300 seats, some with tables, were set up on the infield for a premium view of the ring. A sizable crowd gathered around the arena and in the stands. "I'm betting a third of the people who come here tonight are baseball people who have never seen a fight before," Speakman said. "That's what we need. We need growth in this sport for other promotions. We need to make the community aware of what our product is and we need to bring it out like this. Legends Fight Series wants to stamp our brand of excellence, and that's going to make people set their standards higher." One of the best bouts was when Jaden Boscarello, who hails from the Cleveland area, took on Chase Williamson in the fifth bout of the evening and the first to make it past the opening round. Williamson secured a takedown, but Boscarello used nice defense to avoid a submission. Boscarello, however, took control in the second round when he was finally able to get on top of Williamson and land some strikes to the face. He kept up the momentum in the third round and Williamson threw in the towel. "It was great being in my hometown," Boscarello said. "And being outdoors, I liked it more. I just got out of the military, I was in the infantry and we did everything outside. I just felt good out here. My mentality today helped me. This promotion was beautiful. I had a lot of friends and family who came out and they put on a great show." Other winners from Friday's bouts include Isaac Manns, Bryce Nennig and Mory Traore, all by technical knockout, during the opening session. The first bout of the evening, featuring Ryland Kimble and Michael Hawkins, was the longest bout of the opening session, with Kimble winning 2:24 into the first round by guillotine. The final session featured two professional bouts. Will Baxter won by TKO against Quentin Campbell in the third round of a heavyweight matchup, and Travis Hudson won by guillotine choke against Darnell Truett 37 seconds into the opening round of a lightweight bout. Speakman said he anticipates the next event in July will draw even more fans as word spreads. LFS also is trying to schedule events at other fields throughout the Frontier League. "I'm a big baseball fan," Speakman said while wearing a Lake Erie Crushers jersey. "The Lake Erie Crushers are very historic here. People support them a lot. It's a great venue, it's a great location. You look out and see 90,000 cars a day go past. I think location and history of the Crushers was a big factor. I was like a kid in a candy store. I got me a jersey today and I'm looking forward to coming back." Contact Chris Sweeney at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on X.