Martial Arts at Du Quoin Fair Saturday

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[One of the most well known and successful mixed martial arts fighters in the world will be a special guest at 618 MMA's Midwest Pride 5 Saturday April 16 at the Du Quoin State Fairgrounds Expo Center.

Wanderlei Silva, nicknamed the Axe Murderer, is a Brazilian mixed martial artist, who has competed the Pride Fighting Championships in Japan and the Ultimate Fighting Championships.

Silva is known for his aggressive fighting style with the majority of his fights ending in knockout or referee stoppage.

"I am extremely excited about Wanderlei being our special guest," said 618 MMA owner Dennis Cole, originally from Chester. "We will have a table set up for him where fans can come meet him, get autographs and pictures taken with him."

While Silva will be a huge attraction at Midwest Pride 5, the main event featuring middleweights Garret Gross of Du Quoin and Len Severs, formerly of Chester, has fight of the night written all over it.

Severs is coming off a win over the top ranked amateur middleweight in Missouri and asked for this fight against Gross.

"Len is really athletic aggressive and fast but I can use those same words to describe Garrett," said Cole. "Garrett has been pretty much unstoppable but this will be his toughest fight to date. This fight was supposed to be 618 MMA's first ever main event but due to an injury to Severs, Gross fought someone else. Both guys wanted this fight and they are excited about it. They respect each other and want to fight the best."

The main event is just one of over 15 scheduled bouts on this stacked fight card. The show will be professionally filmed and turned into a local television series in the near future featuring County Journal editor Greg Myers as a commentator and analyst.

The doors at the Expo Center open at 5 p.m. with the fights starting at 7. For more information or to purchase tickets, call 319-5292 or check out 618mma.com.