BLAIRSVILLE — There are still plenty of strikes at the old Sokol Lanes in Blairsville, but they are of a much more violent nature these days.

That’s because United graduate Bob Lichtenfels has turned the old Indiana County bowling alley into a training center for mixed martial arts fighters. And some of the first people he turned to were former Pitt-Johnstown wrestlers.

“United guys, we’re backwoods people,” Lichtenfels said. “Fighting’s part of life. That’s the way you grow up in these little coal towns. You learn to fight from an early age. You start out at 4 or 5 years old, you run around the streets, and that’s what you do.”

So Lichtenfels, who is best known as a college football recruiting analyst for Scout.com, convinced his brother Dustin, a kickboxing instructor, to get into the MMA business.

Matches, which combine a variety of disciplines including jui jitsu, wrestling and boxing, are contested in cages and can be won by knockout, submission or decision. The popularity of the sport has skyrocketed in the years since it was once condemned as “human cockfighting.” It has been replaced by a still-fierce, but more technical contest that is now a staple of cable television.

Pay-per-view fights for Ultimate Fighting Championship events routinely outdraw boxing cards, and more and more MMA-training centers are popping up around the country.

So Lichtenfels enlisted the help of his cousins, former UPJ wrestlers Jesse and Eli Garshnick, and added former Mountain Cats Jon Neese and John Burda to the mix as well. Lichtenfels found a partner in Blairsville’s Tige McAfoos, who has a kickboxing background and experience running a gym.

They purchased the former bowling alley and set about converting the 7,000-square-foot building into the Lion-Do Fight Club. It isn’t close to be ready yet – the walls aren’t finished, there’s no door to the bathroom and exercise equipment is stacked in the front of the building – but a 700-square-foot grappling room is completely functional and a wide range of punching bags hang over the bowling lanes.

When it’s finished, Lion-Do should have a 20-foot octagon for fighting, a boxing ring, a complete range of cardiovascular equipment and weights, as well as video equipment to train fighters.

“It’ll be everything a fighter needs to do his business,” Lichtenfels said.

There is still plenty of construction to be done, but the instruction is well under way.

“They’ve got five or six different instructors with different backgrounds that are all ready and willing to work with anybody, not just me, but even the new guys,” Jesse Garshnick said. “They’ll take the time to work one-on-one with all of them. It’s just tremendous to have something like this so close.”



Ready to put on a show

Lion-Do’s coming out party begins Saturday night in Jefferson, Ohio, at the Ashtabula County Ambush. Jesse Garshnick and Neese will make their MMA debut in the amateur event while Nick Kerr, who is also fighting out of the gym, will fight for the second time.

Garshnick, who is a second-degree black belt in judo, schedules his workouts around his job as an athletic trainer at Blairsville High School. He frequently goes to work with bumps and bruises, so it’s hard to hide his hobby from the students at Blairsville, where he also serves as a volunteer wrestling coach. He said he sees an interest in MMA from a lot of his protégés.

“A lot of them follow (MMA), which is just natural for wrestlers to be interested, because it’s a sport dominated by wrestlers,” Jesse Garshnick said.

He had to drop about 25 pounds to get down to his fighting weight of 170, but Jesse Garshnick can’t wait to step into the cage on Saturday against Mike Shipton, who is 0-2.

“I’ve been conditioning real hard, working out about five or six days a week,” he said. “I feel real prepared. I think I can go in there and put a good show on.”

Neese is just as anxious for his MMA debut against Tony Alissio.

“I’m confident, but not overconfident,” the super heavyweight said. “There’s a fine line between confident and cocky.”

Neese won a PIAA Class AA championship at Marion Center as a senior heavyweight, then moved on to UPJ, where he wrestled for coach Pat Pecora for three seasons. After leaving school, Neese found work in a coal mine. An accident caused him to lose the second toe on his left foot and half of the big toe.

Lichtenfels contacted him while he was still recovering from the injury and Neese’s MMA career began before the stitches had even been removed. Neese has been training for about two months and he learned quickly how demanding the sport can be.

“You get more of a workout in MMA than you do in wrestling,” he said. “Wrestling is a hard, hard sport, but in this you use every ounce of your body strength to finish those rounds.”

Saturday night’s fights will consist of three three-minute rounds, so Neese has been working to get in shape.

“I’ve been really training hard with everyone,” he said. “Jesse’s really been pushing me. Bob’s been pushing me, following me in his car while I’ve been running.”



On the fast track

Lion-Do, which was named for a form of kickboxing, has grown quickly. McAfoos estimated that the club already is training about 30 fighters, including four women. Of the 30, about eight are serious fighters that will get into a cage match within the next year.

“We’re not even officially open,” McAfoos said.

That hasn’t stopped the club from attracting its first pro fighter.

William T. Bennett, who is 3-1 as a pro, hails from Columbus, Ohio, and is now fighting out of Pittsburgh. He found his way to the Blairsville gym because he was looking to improve his ground skills.

The 41-year-old was impressed by what he found.

“Here at Lion-Do, they have excellent wrestlers, plenty of space, all the equipment you could possibly need,” he said. “They’re going through some renovations right now, but still, when they develop out, they’re going to be a premium gym around here.”

Lichtenfels has also lined up a sponsorship deal with Loos Toof fight gear, which is almost unheard of for amateur fighters.

With the gym’s proximity to the Wyotech campus in Blairsville and IUP, Lichtenfels sees a tremendous opportunity for growth. He also hopes it will open some doors for others in the area looking for an athletic outlet.

“Not every kid that wrestles in high school is going to go wrestle in college,” Lichtenfels said. “But he might be a little bad-ass from down the street that can fight. Maybe when he turns 18, this is something that he can look to do. Instead of fighting in the bars or in the street, he can come down here and make a career out of it.”