After a long absence, arm wrestling returns to the Northwest Montana Fair Sunday afternoon.

The fair is the site of Northwest Montana Arm Wrestling Championship.

Matt Phillips, the Montana State Director of the American Armsport Association, took a decade off from the Flathead’s fair to raise his children, but now he has plans for a big showdown with the area’s best amateur arm wrestlers.

It can be intense.

“We’re all friends until we meet at the table,” he said. “But we can all shake hands afterwards.”

Phillips, a Bozeman native, grew up arm wrestling his friends and family. He was good but raw.

“I was a predator trapper for the government,” he said. “My dad always said I got my hand strength from skinning coyotes.”

From Montana, where he would beat Montana State football players in competitions, he joined the Marine Corps and was stationed in Hawaii.

On a battalion sports day, he challenged his sergeant major (then undefeated) to a contest.

His opponent, chomping on a big cigar as he talked with the battalion colonel, laughed.

“I’ll never forget this,” Phillips said. “He said, ‘All right, grab two chairs and wait on stage. I’ll be there in a minute.’”

It was the longest match of Phillips’ life.

“My whole battalion was just shouting my name,” he said. “I won, but not by much.”

A fellow Marine asked if Phillips had ever been an armbender before. He responded that he had been doing it his whole life.

The Marine laughed, said his form was awful and struck a deal with the young Phillips.

“Teach him to trap mongoose,” Phillips said. “And he’d teach me to arm wrestle.”

The now-48-year-old said his glory days are behind him. He has 165 trophies at home and was both the Hawaii and Montana state champion, not to mention the 1987 world arm wrestling champion.

“I want to help people now,” he said. “I want people to get into the sport. But I’ve never turned down a match.”

Phillips is as beefy as ever and could clearly hold his own in any arm wrestling tournament, but with his children Gunner, 12, and Sabrina, 10, getting into the sport, he wants to expand arm wrestling.

To help those in the Flathead who are interested, Phillips is putting on a clinic tonight from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Huckleberry Stage at the Flathead County Fairgrounds.

“I want to talk to arm wrestlers who have maybe wrestled their brothers or dad, but not in a AAA-sanctioned event,” he said. “Being sanctioned, that means it will get a write-up in Armbender Magazine.”

Despite the nickname for arm wrestlers (armbenders), Phillips assures it is safe. There will be two referees, and most of the matches will be over quickly.

“Most arm wrestling matches are over in 10 seconds or less,” he said. “The way I trained, you want the match to be over in three seconds or less.”

It isn’t mere brawn on brawn, he said. Speed, technique and preparation are what Phillips drills into his disciples.

To put on this year’s event, Phillips needed help from local businesses. Ohs Body Shop and Kalispell Athletic Club responded and helped sponsor what Phillips hopes to be a return to tradition.

During a break in Sunday night’s demolition derby, a flatbed truck will roll some competitors out on the arena for cash matches.

The rest of the event begins Sunday morning, when wrestlers are expected to weigh in from 8 a.m. to noon. Matches in the double-elimination tournament begin at 1 p.m.

There will be five weight categories for right-handed men, two for lefties and one open class. Women have two classes as well, and teenage boys have separate categories for 16-,17-,18- and 19-year olds.

Buy-ins range from $25 in open class to $10 for teenagers. The pot goes to the winner, not to mention prizes such as cash, gym memberships and trophies.

Phillips is hoping to draw more than 150 contestants, which means a lot of cash is on the table to win — a table, it should be mentioned, Sylvester Stallone used to train for his arm-wrestling movie, “Over The Top.”

But it isn’t about the money, said the fiercely competitive Phillips.

“I really want to see what the Flathead Valley is going to bring,” he said. “This is their chance to shine.”

Reporter Ryan Murray may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at rmurray@dailyinterlake.com.