Submitted photos – Fight night organizers are getting ready for Saturday night’s Rumble at the River V.

The excitement is building for this weekend’s Rumble at the River V fight night, which will take place at the Bear River Casino Resort on Saturday night.

And local fight fans can expect a different format this time from the two recent Bear River fight nights held in December and May.

According to Red Thunder Promotions, they are switching from a tournament format and the night will feature 14 fights matching competitors in multiple different disciplines, including boxing, kick boxing and “Bear Knuckle” fights.

“Rumble at the River V is setting up to be the fight of the year,” said John McGinnis of Red Thunder Promotions. “With 14 fights on the card, we’ve got something for every fight enthusiast on the North Coast.”

The night’s action will feature four title fights, including two “Bear Knuckle” title showdowns — a discipline that “stole the show” at the last fight night, according to McGinnis — and a super heavyweight title fight.

The main event on the card is the 150-pound five-round Kicking Bear World Title showdown, which will see  Fortuna’s Caleb Harrison from the Redwood Mauy Thai & Fitness Club take on Oregon’s Bryce Bradbeer, who was the Rumble at the River III Grizzly division champion.

“That could be a contender for fight of the year,” McGinnis said.

According to McGinnis, fighters from several local gyms will be in action, including Redwood Mauy Thai, Body Works Alpha Annex, the Institute of Combat, Camacho Boxing, MV Mauy Thai & Spartan Boxing and Body Works.

Red Thunder Promotions is owned and operated by Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Racheria and, according to McGinnis, they are one of the first tribes in the nation “to do it all in house.”

“Bear River is very happy to welcome all the gyms to our reservation to compete in this amazing event,” McGinnis said. 

“It will be action packed, with ladies and gentlemen laying it all on the line for our amazing fans.” 

And the fight night is expected to sell out once again, although as of Friday afternoon some tickets are still available online and fans can also purchase any remaining tickets at the recreation center front desk on fight night.

Doors open at 5:15 p.m. and the action gets under way at 6:30.