No, it’s not the ancient gladiator fights in Rome’s Coliseum but it may be the modern equivalent as the twenty-eighth edition of the renowned IFC Warriors Challenge comes to Gold Country on Saturday August 21 at 4PM. Headlining the event are two championship fights. One title battle will be Roseville’s own Dave “Bad Man” Huckaba taking on Fresno’s Mike “The Animal” Cook in an IFC Warriors Challenge Heavyweight title defense. Both of these fighters are known for their heavy hands and love of the stand up part of the MMA game.

The other feature will be a Warrior’s Challenge Welterweight Championship between “Mutt”, John Corstorphine, of Rancho Cordova, Ca. against local favorite Josh Hinkle. Yuba City’s Richard Blake will also be meeting Chico’s Anthony Fernandez in a Light Heavyweight match-up. A four man single elimination tournament will also help round out of this exciting nine fight Gold Country card in typical IFC style.

As is also usual for the IFC you can expect to see some hard-hitting women and this card is no exception with Kristan “Barbie” Molina from Reno taking on Michigan’s Amanda LaVoy. Barbie is formerly of Ken Shamrock’s Lion’s Den and is married to former IFL fighter Dan Molina so fighting is very much part of this families life style. By day Barbie is a nurse who does some modeling and she has also has published her own comic book. Michigan’s Amanda LaVoy is an aggressive redhead from upstate where she is also getting ready to put him back together after taking them apart. She is preparing to enter a nursing program after she completes her Fine Arts degree program. She is an instructor at the Cheetah Cage Combat Center in Ann Arbor. Barbie versus a Cheetah – hard to let that one go. You won’t want to miss it either.

Some of the great fighters that have appeared in past IFC shows at Gold Country include Frank Mir, Robbie Lawler, Cal Worsham, Paul Buentello, Scott Smith, Steve Heath, Ivan Salaverry, Denis Kang, Martin Armendarez, Nick Diaz, and Benji Radach. Former and current IFC Champions include Chuck Liddell, Eugene Jackson, Rich Franklin, Tim Silva, Jens Pulver, Dan Severn, Igor Vovchachin, Matt Lindland, Paul Buentello, Jeremy Horn and many other top fighters in MMA. IFC fighters come from many backgrounds; they are respected as some of the best athletes in the world. Most use a combination of boxing, wrestling, open hand combat and martial arts fighting techniques in the cage. Bouts can be won by knockout, submission or by the scorecard. There are three five-minute rounds in a non-championship bout and five five-minute rounds in a championship bout. Known for their extreme, no holds barred fighting in the steel cage IFC fighters will do just about anything necessary to win.

The action all starts at 4 pm on Saturday, August 21. Nine fights, music by Erin McKinney and Hot Ledd and the smoking hot IFC cage girls. Tickets start at $30 and are available at goldcountrycasino.com or by calling 800-803-1911.

ABOUT THE IFC: Founded in 1996, the International Fighting Championships is one of the longest running MMA promotions in the world having produced over 100 events. Since its debut show, IFC or IFC-sanctioned events have been held in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio,Montana, Nebraska, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Idaho, Nevada, Colorado, New York, Georgia, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, California, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Utah, Hawaii, Connecticut, Mexico, Ukraine and Canada. The IFC also has one of the largest MMA video libraries which have been broadcast on stations around the world and released to DVD. For more information on the IFC, visit the official website at www.ifccagedcombat.tv.