Jul. 28—ENID, Okla. — Combat jiu-jitsu will be making its Oklahoma debut when the Martial Combat League comes to the Stride Bank Center at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, July 31.

The event will feature 22 fights including four combat jiu-jitsu matches, five jiu-jitsu matches, 11 MMA fights and two kickboxing matches. Competitors will come from a variety of age groups including some as young as seven, eight or nine years old, according to the Martial Combat League’s organizer and owner of Shah Mat Brazilian Jiu-Jistu, Dylan Smith.

Kyle Rosine is one of the fighters who will be among the first to participate in an official combat jiu-jitsu match in Oklahoma. Rosine is an Oklahoma State Trooper and has been practicing jiu-jitsu since 2017. He’ll be fighting Tyler Smith on Saturday.

Rosine, said combat jiu jitsu was created to bridge the Brazilian jiu-jitsu style with MMA. He said many of the positions used in Brazilian jiu-jitsu makes the fighter extremely vulnerable when punches are being thrown.

“I like heavy top pressure,” Rosine said of his own fighting style. “I like pressure passes, which in jiu jitsu that’s gonna be less about passing and more about securing position and striking and going into a submission.”

Smith is a former MMA fighter himself with 22 fights under his belt. He said opening Shah Mat fulfilled a lifelong dream of returning to Enid and giving back to the community. Smith said he felt like Enid was missing a strong program and wanted to help other fighters start their careers.

After years of spending time as a fighter, Smith said he was excited to try out the business side of the sport. Smith runs the academy as a side job in addition to his 9-5 job.

“To me this isn’t work, I leave work every day to come do what I’m passionate about, which is building this program,” he said.

Several of Smith’s fighters said they struggled to find a consistent gym to train in before Shah Mat opened several years ago.

Anthony “The Unicorn” Fee started fighting in MMA out of high school, but hadn’t fought in an official match in nearly a decade before learning about Smith’s

“There just wasn’t consistent training,” he said. “Dylan didn’t have the gym open at the time and there wasn’t really anywhere stable to train.” Fee will have his first fight

Fee will have his first fight in seven years when he takes on Dalton Harding on Saturday night. He said he knows his opponent is 0-2 in MMA fights, but that he has a couple wins in kickboxing. “He’s got good standup and

“He’s got good standup and I know he’s coming in thinking he’s changed enough to get a W, so I’m taking him very seriously regardless of what the record says,” Fee said.

He said his own fighting style will consist of putting a lot of pressure on his opponent both with boxing and on the ground.

Chris Campbell, a former EHS and Northwestern Oklahoma State football player, will be making his MMA debut against Dalton Boyd. Campbell said he missed football after he stopped playing and looked to fighting to fill his love for challenges.

He’s already begun to show some his potential in just his second year in the sport.

“So far it’s been pretty good, I believe I’m picking it up pretty easy, and it was just another test for myself and another chapter of my life,” Campbell said. “I want to see if I can adapt. It’s a sport with a lot of respectable people, so it’s a great crowd to be around and it’s a different kind of environment.”

Campbell originally joined Smith’s cardio kickboxing class in early 2019, when Smith asked if he’d be interested in practicing Brazilian jiu-jitsu. In that time he’s already made an impression on his coach.

Smith said that he could see Campbell reaching the highest level of MMA if he continues to work at it.

“Give him four or five years and he’ll be fighting in the UFC, as long as he wants to,” Smith said. “I’ve been around a lot of fighters, he’s got the talent to do whatever he wants in MMA, for sure.”

Campbell said his opponent is more of scrapper, that will try to stay on his feet and box. He said his own style doesn’t favor wrestling or boxing, and that he tries to be well-rounded across the board.

Tickets for the event are on sale now at stridebankcenter.com.