Hoosier Fight Club will hold its fifth event in just under a year when it hosts HFC 5 on Oct. 15 at the Porter County Expo Center in Valparaiso.
Though the mixed martial arts promotion hasn't officially announced the event on its website, HFC promoter and CEO Danielle Vale confirmed the event to The Times on Friday.
HFC 5 will be an all-amateur show and will feature a main event light heavyweight bout between L.A. Boxing's Aaron Noel and Tony Kimbrough of Team Immortal. The co-main event is scheduled to be a lightweight fight between Nick Wayne, of L.A. Boxing, and Bryant Whitaker, of Muncie.
Vale said both Noel and Wayne will turn pro following HFC 5.
The event comes on the heels of last month's HFC 4: Showdown at The Steel Yard, the first MMA event at the RailCats' stadium in Gary. HFC 4 featured both professional and amateur fights.
Vale said having a few shows under the HFC belt, and two previously at the Porter County Expo Center, doesn't mean the promotion is resting on its laurels.
"The Expo Center is great to work with and everyone -- including fighters, fans and our staff -- enjoy the venue," Vale said.
"Even though this will be our third event there, there are a few things that we want to tweak. No matter how perfect an event goes, if you look close enough, there is always room for improvement."
Vale said one of the bumps in the road -- a late start that contributed to the cancellation of three fights -- at HFC 4 helped the promotion, not yet a year old, learn a lesson going forward.
"As a whole, the show was a success," Vale said.
"Maybe this is hard to believe for some, but the entire crew at HFC was disappointed that fights were scratched. We were held by the state sanctioning rules that state the rules meeting could not start until every fighter and their primary cornerman was in attendance. Unfortunately, three fighters were late -- and that put the show behind an hour. Moving forward, we have added clauses in to the contracts to avoid this situation."
Vale said each event is an opportunity for the promotion to grow.
"We continue to learn after every show," Vale said. "We try to avoid complacency. We treat each event as if it was our first but just with more knowledge."
Vale, who co-owns L.A. Boxing in Merrillville with her husband and HFC COO Paul Vale, said having pro fighters like UFC, Strikeforce, "The Ultimate Fighter" veteran John Kolosci and former WEC bantamweight champion Eddie Wineland around helps the gym churn out top-shelf local talent to compete against fighters from camps like Team Colon, Bloody Knuckles, Extreme Martial Arts, Modern Martial Arts and Torres Martial Arts Academy.
Wineland has won three straight WEC fights, including a Knockout of the Night win over Will Campuzano last month. And Kolosci next fights for Bellator Fighting Championships at the Chicago Theatre on Aug. 19. Kolosci serves as the matchmaker for HFC.
"Obviously, any win for John is a win for L.A. Boxing and Hoosier Fight Club," Vale said. "But most importantly, John's success is his own. It doesn't matter how many people help a fighter get to that point. When that cage door closes, it's competition at its purist form."
