UFC Hall of Famer Mark Coleman and other UFC stars will be in attendance at an Indiana Cage Fighting event on Saturday at the National Guard Armory, 1925 First Ave., Seymour.

Also at the event, two Seymour fighters, Aaron Isenberg and Zefe Trejo, and Barry Fox of Brownstown will be competing.

Doors open at 6 p.m., and the bell rings at 8 p.m. Tickets will be available at the door. All ages are allowed, and it’s billed as a “family friendly” event.

Competition will open with the Junior Challenge, in which Trejo from Matside Sports will fight Michael Brooks in the 135-pound division. There are two other matches scheduled.

In the feature event, Isenberg will face Andrew Nicholson of New Albany in the 170-pound weight class, while Fox will meet Jeremy Craig of North Vernon in the 185-pound weight class. There will be 11 other divisions that night, featuring fighters from Indiana and Ohio.

Head coach: Curt Schleibaum

2009-10 record: 3-15

2010-11 outlook:

Of the 22 wrestlers at Seymour High School last winter, only eight had varsity experience.

This winter, however, third-year coach Curt Schleibaum has a slew of returning wrestlers as well as 15 freshmen.

“We turned out 15 freshmen this year, so that helps our numbers,” Schleibaum said. “I think we will take a few people by surprise, but at least that is our goal. We have 36 guys on the team right now, and they are working hard. They are coming together as a team quickly. They know the past couple of years, we have been young, and they are ready to come out fighting.”

Among the returnees is junior Benji Loyd. Last winter, he finished the year 12-21, was No. 3 on the team in points (38) and was the only wrestler to advance to regional.

Of the other returnees, several wrestled regularly for the varsity team.

“We have about two-thirds of the wrestlers who only have one year of wrestling experience, whether at the high school or middle school level,” Schleibaum said. “It takes some nerve to come out for a sport as challenging as wrestling as an upperclassman. We have several of them this year, a few who are pushing for extra mat time to just learn the sport. The more experienced guys are helping out those inexperienced guys as much as they possibly can.”

While last year’s team had youth, Schleibaum said, this season’s team may be inexperienced. But, he added, the team had a productive offseason, from competing in the USA Wrestling program to working out at local gym Matside Sports.

“The coaching staff was dedicated in the offseason, and we met almost biweekly year-round to work on different things around the program,” he said. “We had some guys traveling and doing the United States Wrestling, and they made it out to 13 meets. They put a lot of time in during the offseason, had a lot of guys lifting weights and doing things on their own.”

Through the first week of practice, Schleibaum said the wrestlers were willing to work, and he hopes that will pay off.

“Anytime you can get on the mat and get some mat time gives us the chance to figure out the small things we do wrong,” he said. “When you have guys getting matches in the offseason, it’s just going to benefit us. If you have a freshman come in and wrestle 13 matches in the offseason, that’s almost a full season. I think they will improve their skills completely.”