THE FRONT ROW WITH JASON ELLIOTT: A new name in the area cage

For years, the House of Fury at the Coeur d’Alene Casino has been well known for its boxing events.

Now, another organization is taking its shot at the spotlight at the Casino in Worley.

THE WORLD Fighting Championships will take place tonight starting at 7 p.m.

“Our niche is that we do regional casinos,” World Fighting Championship owner Matt McGovern said. “It’s a beautiful place for it, and there’s a lot of great fight fans in this area. The opportunity presented itself to start doing fights there with their new facility. There’s a lot of good fighters in the area as well.”

King of the Cage was another mixed martial arts promotion that held fights at the casino as recently as 2017.

“They’re similar to us, but we’re able to reach different places in the west,” McGovern said. “They do a great job with their promotion as well.”

Of the 12 matches announced for the card, Tylor SiJohn and Craig Fesitner are local fighters.

“Craig, he’s an up and coming fighter and really popular with the fans,” McGovern said. “We expect him to be in the UFC within his next three to four fights.”

SiJohn won his last fight by knockout in the second round.

“Tylor really brings out the fans,” McGovern said. “He had 150 people here to watch him the last time he fought.”

The main event of the night is Jared Torgeson against Daniel Gadley.

“It’s going to be a huge battle,” McGovern said. “Both are high level fighters. It’s going to be a stand and bang kind of fight.”

As of Thursday night, only 100 tickets remained.

If you miss out tonight, McGovern said the promotion will be back soon.

“We’re planning to be back on Aug. 20,” McGovern said. “We’re really looking forward to it.”

MAYBE IT is a mental thing for area 5A high school wrestlers at 285 pounds, having longer to think about a match going last in a dual or tournament, but you can argue the heavyweights around here were the toughest.

Owen Hughes, a senior from Lake City, state champion.

Jackson Kohal, a junior from Coeur d’Alene, finished third.

Dylan Franks, a senior from Coeur d’Alene, took sixth.

Not a bad showing at all.

Franks and Kohal had to wrestle each other in the consolation rounds, while Hughes and Kohal were on opposite sides of the bracket.

“Our two heavyweights, I was proud of them,” Coeur d’Alene coach Jeff Moffat said. “I was really happy for those heavyweights.”

For Hughes, his win in the finals was retribution from the 2019 finals, where he lost to Josiah Lara of Skyview. This year, Hughes beat Lara 2-1.

“Hopefully winning a state title gets me some more recognition,” said Hughes, who is still undecided on wrestling in college. “I’m just thankful for my coaches and my team. I couldn’t have done it without them. I’m thankful for the opportunity and feel really blessed to be a part of this program.”

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at (208) 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @JECdAPress.