HIGHLAND | Mixed Martial Arts fighting has been billed as one of the fastest growing sports in the country. If the turnout at the initial Summer Fight Fest held June 20 at Wicker Park in Highland is any indication of the sport's popularity in the Region, it has a promising future.

About 700 people attended the MMA outdoor full-contact fighting event hosted by Braulio Corral of Corral's Martial Arts. The event was delayed 30 minutes by rain, and the wet conditions hampered the footing on the ring in each of the 13 bouts.

Despite the weather, Corral was happy with the turnout.

"My goal was I wanted to have at least 500 people just to kind of break even, to have a good show and show everybody a good time," said Corral, who has martial arts schools in Schererville and Valparaiso. " I wasn't aware of how everything was going to work because this is a new venue for me."

There are three other fight fests, which also feature live music, scheduled for July 18, Aug. 15 and Sept. 14.

"The next three shows will be sold out here," Corral said.

Included on card were Matt Vaughn of Hobart, Mike Wood of Crown Point, and crowd favorite Scott Sands of Cedar Lake.

Sands won his 170-pound bout with a first-round TKO, while Wood won his 145-pound bout by submission.

"I tapped him out with a rear naked choke," Wood said. "I wanted to go for the arm bar, but he rolled over and gave me his back."

Also winning fights were Larry Digiulio of Chicago Heights and Brad Hatfield of Calumet City. Hatfield won a Muay Thai kickboxing three-round pro bout. DeRay Davis won the main event with a first-round TKO of Jason Hall.

The crowd was mostly under the age of 30, and there were a few families.

Nick Divich, 24, a Portage native now living in Florida, came to see his friends Vaughn and Wood fight. Divich is working here for the summer and came with three of his friends.

"I like that they keep the fights local," Divich said. "You can come out and have some fun."

Corral explained that MMA is a variety of martial arts.

"The most common are Muay Thai kickboxing, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and wrestling," he said. "It's kind of a good combination, so with all those elements the fighters are trying to sharpen their skills."

Expected to fight in July are Aaron Kreke of Crown Point, Jared McMahan of Dyer, Ray Bruno of Schererville and Jose Escobedo of Griffith.