This outdoor fight club in Gig Harbor delivers more than punches

Hidden deep in the woods near Gig Harbor is a makeshift cage lined with plywood topped by chain-link fence, where fighters and boxers face off on a square of worn artificial turf. Welcome to The Scrapyard, a backyard fight club that attracts local fighters and millions of fans online.

C

urtis Muldrow is about to fight in his first mixed martial arts match. He shifts back and forth, tightening his gloves.

"I wanted to do boxing, just to work on my hands,” Muldrow said, "but I can do MMA, too. It’s cool."

Muldrow’s a heavyweight, one of the biggest guys here, but he hasn’t been in a fight for years. The 40-year-old works at a concrete company in Tacoma.

"A lot of my co-workers thinking I'm getting knocked out, but I'm gonna prove them wrong,” he said as he hit his fists together.

Muldrow slid a mouth guard between his teeth and walked into the ring.

Dried blood and spit streak the plywood walls of the cage. About 30 people stood around the edge of the ring, cheering the fighters on.

The Scrapyard isn't your typical fighting ring or boxing gym.

"We are a backyard, legal fight organization,” Steve “Fire Chicken” Hagara said in his signature American flag Pit Viper sunglasses.

“I should say community, rather,” he said.

Since 2020, The Scrapyard has hosted kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and traditional boxing.

Before this, Hagara used to be an amateur fighter and remembers the attitudes at gyms.

"You show up to fight and everyone's kind of against everybody,” Hagara said. "It's kind of more strictly business."

He wanted The Scrapyard to be different. More laid back, fun, and supportive. Hagara got the idea to start the fight club after visiting Streetbeefs Fight Club in Virginia, a similar outdoor fighting group.

"It's meant to be more community relationships,” he said.

RELATED: First rule of Feminist Fight Club: You must talk about it

These “street beef” matches happen once a month in the wooded lot, rain or shine. People from all over sign up on The Scrapyard Facebook page. While one match is going on, other fighters spar in the trees surrounding the cage. Some take jabs at a punching bag or watch videos from last month’s fights.

Hagara plays both the ringleader and cameraman during the scraps. With a GoPro camera always in hand, he dives around the cage to film for their YouTube and social media channels.

It may look scrappy but Hagara said they take safety seriously. One of his many duties is to match fighters up based on their weight and experience.

There are volunteer referees, judges, and medics at every event. One volunteer is Justine White, who drives up every month from Oregon.

White has an important job.

"I clean the gloves,” she said, "because those gloves can get pretty sweaty and pretty bloody."

She dirties the gloves, too. White started fighting at the yard over a year ago.

"I did not expect to get into this, but I absolutely love it,” she said. “I feel a little bit more confident that I can handle myself in unexpected situations."

There are rules at The Scrapyard. Like a typical gym it follows state martial arts regulations. Fighters have to check in with the medical tent before and after their match, and you have to be between 18 and 60 years old to step into the cage.

Other than that, anyone can sign up.

One first-timer was John McLellan from Shoreline, who fought against heavyweight Curtis Muldrow. McLellan strode into the cage wearing custom stretchy pants covered with images of his face. A boost of confidence, he said.

"I thought, ‘Why am I doing this?’ after I took the second or third good shot to the left side of my face,” he said, “but you don't want to quit."

McLellan got a little banged up by Muldrow in the ring but the two were chatting afterward in the med tent together.

"I was talking to him before the match. I talked to him after. What a great guy. We're having good laughs,” McLellan said, “and boy does he hit hard."

RELATED: You can sword-fight at this club. But no politics allowed

Like a lot of people at The Scrapyard, McLellan said he wanted to prove to himself that he could still hold his own in a scrap. And he wanted to do it before he turns 40 next year.

"Gonna have to explain it to my wife, though. I held off on letting her know I was coming, because I know she wouldn't have let me but it’s something I had to do,” he said holding an ice pack over his left eye. “She's gonna love my face when she sees it. I am in so much trouble, brother."

McLellan lost his match to Muldrow, who said he couldn’t wait to show the fight videos to his friends at work who doubted him. Most importantly, the first-time MMA fighter said he impressed himself that he can still land a punch and even a kick or two.

"That's all that matters. I prove it to myself, and I prove to everybody else who wants to talk down,” he said, still trying to catch his breath from the fight. “Haters are always motivators."

In the past five years The Scrapyard has grown a lot. During the summer, organizer Steve Hagara says they'll have up to 50 fights a day.

He went from uploading shaky cell phone videos to a full live stream with commentators, slow-motion, and replay. The Scrapyard's Instagram alone has more than 1.5 million followers.

"It's crazy to think that we've been at this for five years,” he said, "and that we've really touched a lot of different people's lives, and that they depend on this monthly."

Hagara said the next challenge for him is to not get caught in the middle of a fight while he's filming.