Houma native to defend MMA middleweight title at the Houma Civic Center on Saturday

A Houma native is defending his mixed martial art middleweight title during a caged warrior championship Saturday at the Houma Civic Center.

In Ya Face Fight Productions is hosting the Caged Warrior Championships at the Barry P. Bonvillain Civic Center, with 12 fights on the card, including the CWC's Middleweight Championship. It also will include tag team grappling matches for the second time in the CWC's history.

"It's a big deal," In Ya Face Productions owner Justin Verdin said. "It's going to be live with instant replays and pay-per-views with people watching from all over the world."

Fights include the main event: Joe Burkowski of Houma defending his Middleweight title from Willie Sims of Oklahoma. The co-main event is Sarah Davila of Baton Rouge against Caree Hill of Portland, Ore. And Angelica Guzman will face Kaitlyn Luquette.

Tickets begin at $30, with ringside seats at $125, and full tables at $800. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., and fights begin at 6 p.m. The event will feature Jason Derouen, "The Cajun Ninja," and Mike Huffman as commentators

Along with the 12 main fights, there will be a childrens' grappling league, age 10+ MMA matches and, for the second time in CWC history, tag-team grappling matches.

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"Tag-team matches, man, that's amazing," Verdin said. "We did a tag-team grappling match, and the crowd loved it, so we are doing that again. They got four people in the cage, and they start with two grappled up in the middle. When they start getting into trouble, they can try to reach and tag their partner."

Verdin was a fighter himself, beginning Tae Kwon Do at  8-years-old. He began fighting in Toughman competitions in 2003, an early MMA fighting league before the likes of UFC and Pride. That same year, Verdin began promoting his own MMA league, known as The Brick House Brawl, behind the Brick House Bar in Houma.

This article originally appeared on The Courier: Houma native to defend MMA middleweight title at Houma Civic Center