Thursday Night Fights returns to the thriving Mixed Martial Arts scene in Central Oregon on April 12. DesertBrawl Professional Cage Fighting brings another night full of tapouts, knockouts, and non-stop action to the Midtown Rock, Rink and Roll in Bend Oregon. The show will air live on both www.DesertBrawl.com, and www.MMAPPV.com for those who can't attend; but for those who can get ready for a star studded line up of tough fighters waiting to prove there skills in the DesertBrawl cage.

The main event brings Pro Desert Dog fighter Talon Hoffman (1-1) in the cage against International Fight League Fighter Ashe Bowman (Ken Shamrock's Lions 1-3) fighting out of Reno Nevada. This is a professional fight at 155lbs and pits two ground and pound fighters against each other. Both fighters are trained with excellent coaching staff and training partners; plus both have a decent amount of fight time in their resumes. This fight should be fast paced, and well rounded. The pro's can elbow, and the ground fighters love to get their opponent down into the cage and pound them away. Professionals can also cover up in defense of strikes on the ground and not have the fight called as quickly as an amateur fight would so watch for some serious work to end this fight from either fighter.

The semi main event is newly returned fighter Hopi "Ninja" Jenkins who just lost a title shot due to injury on the champ and is still looking for some cage time until the champ returns to defend the title he so badly wants to take. The Ninja is a Carlson Gracie Blue Belt under Marcelo Alonso by way of JT Taylor and has a mean ground game. He actually seemed to come alive as the fight progressed in his last display as he won a decision victory against fighter Robert Henry at DB 22. Standing in his way of the champ is Joshua Rivas a scrapper from Anchorage Alaska (0-2) who trains with Team Frostbite and likes to brawl. This fight could turn into a war quick, but I think the ninja's submissions skills might prove a tough hurdle for Rivas to climb. 

My pick for "fight to watch" is between Desert Dog Fighter Tomi "Last Minute" Massey (6-2) and his opponent, fighting out of Yreka California with Team "Do Something", Josh Legrange (5-1). Massey has been a traveling trainee at some serious camps and shown some exciting stand up in the cage. Massey only two losses come from huge battles that were exciting from start to finish, and he's only getting better. There's talk about Massey training with several camps like Team Quest, Ken Shamrock's Lions, and Team OJJ so look for a very ready fighter once the cage door shuts. His opponent is no stranger to the cage and proved it at DesertBrawl 22 when he took out Desert Dog teammate Wes Blood by strength and good cardio. He's a strong fighter and will prove a tough fight for Massey who will look to keep the fight standing as he smiles away like a kid on the playground. This fight could definitely end in a KO.

Heavy weight fighters Rudy Gonzales (Desert Dogs 2-0) and Nick Braker (Team SAGA Portland, OR 4-2-1) will throw down and try to climb into contention for the belt. Both of these fighters have knockout power and good coaching it will come down to cardio and capitalizing on the mistakes of their opponent. Nick Braker is coming off a win at the last DesertBrawl in 48 seconds and Rudy is coming off a win as well at the DB before last so both have seen the cage recently and this should be a great battle between two skilled heavyweight fighters.

Fan favorite, Ryan "Mad Dog" Fulton (2-0) a local boy fighting out of the Desert Dog camp will step into the cage once more to face debuting and independently trained fighter Josh Wetsel. Wetsel will be the underdog coming into this fight as Fulton has had more cage time and longer training; but you never know! And that ladies and gentleman is the key to the thriving heart of MMA. Any night, any show, any where a fighter can wow the crowd and take home the upset as everyone can only watch in amazement. Wetsel will need to overcome Fulton's ground game to win the fight in this lightweight battle. 

Another great lightweight fighter fighting from the Desert Dog team is Justin Fratto (3-0) who is coming off a stunning KO win when he landed a huge kick to the face and sent his foe to the mat sleeping cold at the last DB. Fratto loves to stand up and strike and always mixes it up with superman punches and fakes to try to open up his target. Fratto also has a god ground game and good cardio as well so he will definitely pose a problem for debuting fighter and independently trained Josh Grinstead. Grinstead better watch out for Fratto's stand up game and bring a sick set of skills as he also comes into this fight as the underdog looking to steal a local boy's fire. The doors open at 6:00 and the fights start at 8:00 so get your tickets now for some cage fighting action. Thursday Night Fights is a JT Taylor and Chris fought production.