HORSESHOE BEND, Idaho — Horseshoe Bend will host a night of fights at Woods Veterans Memorial Park on July 1 to raise money for more improvements at their new park that honors veterans.
Ricky Steele has an 8-2 record as a professional MMA fighter, he's affiliated with SBG, Straight Blast Gym out of Boise and they will put together the card for Freedom Fight Night.
"The martial arts has always been the best and greatest part of my life," said Steele. "It is a blessing in so many ways for me to give back and be a part of something martial arts involved that supports a wonderful cause in our veterans."
Horseshoe Bend is a rural community in one of the poorest counties in Idaho so it hit the town hard when they lost the lumber mill back in 1998.
"We had to give up Lumber Days and this town has been on really hard times," said Kimberly Welsh, who is responsible for starting the Horseshoe Bend Chamber of Commerce.
Last year they started building an identity with the creation of Woods Memorial Park to honor this area's long legacy of fighting for our country.
"Keep in mind this is a town of 800 and we can count 400 veterans all the way back to the Mexican-American War," said Welsh.
Freedom Fight Night will happen at Woods Veterans Memorial Park as Ricky Steele and SBG will have a variety of different fights for people to enjoy.
"We got MMA fights, grappling matches and boxing fights." said Steele. "I personally train with a bunch of these upcoming amateurs and this new generation of fighters are something special. It's a new age, a new era where the training has evolved, the fighters have evolved and we will give these guys a chance to really go out and showcase all their hard work."
Tickets for Freedom Fight Night are $20 and $17 for veterans, all the proceeds will go towards improvements at the park with paving the park lot and bathrooms being the top priority.
Depending on how much they raise more additions could be possibly including a fishing dock, although that would have to go get community approval as this small rural town builds something they can be really proud of.
"Life can be so hard and you have something like this that people give everything for because our veterans give so much," said Welsh. "So this tiny little bit we can give in their honor means everything to us."
The high school volleyball team will be grilling hot dogs and hamburgers, Freedom Fight night will have a beer tent and a full bar and there will also be a raffle where people can win a nine mil and 1,000 rounds of 9mm ammo.
