By: Jody Norstedt, WDAY

Fargo, ND (WDAY TV) — The popularity of Mixed Martial Arts has taken off in the last decade, big crowds fill up sports bars to watch UFC fights every month. Tonight, we introduce you to a rising star from right here in the Red River Valley, who took the path from college basketball at Jamestown to the Octagon.

Pablo Garza has taken the UFC world by storm, Through 2 UFC fights, he’s the first to get a knockout at the 145 pound weight class, and the first to pull off the flying triangle.

His biggest fight is this Saturday at UFC 139, in front of what should be a record crowd.

Winning this fight really sets the pace for me to become a contender for the 145 pound title.

While Garza’s young fighting career has been nearly perfect, the path he took was far from it. His family moved to Grafton when he was 5, and worked for area farmers just to make ends meet.

Pablo: “That’s what drove me to be something more. I didn’t want to do that, so I made sure I went to college.”

Garza was asked, “Did you ever think you’d be fighting for money?”

Pablo: “No, not at all, many of the fighters grow up dreaming to do this, but I had other dreams.”

In fact, Garza’s fighting career started just 5 years ago, with no fighting experience of any kind. But, that was okay.

Pablo: “I didn’t have bad habits that I needed to break. So, when I learned everything, I learned how to do it perfect for the first time.”

After hearing that, I decided to take a UFC crash course.

Pablo: My goal is to stay in the UFC and I might as well when a championship while I”m there.”

In Garza’s previous UFC fight, he fought in front of 55,000 people. That’s 10 times the population of his hometown of Grafton. We’ll let you know how he does on Saturday.

Saturday night, the UFC announced the third fight for the event that will mark their debut on the FOX network.

Cub Swanson and Ricardo Lamas will meet in the second featherweight contests scheduled for the Anaheim, California event; a meeting between Dustin Poirier and Pablo Garza was announced shortly following the FOX deal last month.

Click here to view the embedded video.

A Southern California native training out of Greg Jackson’s in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Swanson’s scheduled return to the cage will come a year plus a day after he last set foot in the cage. Injuries have sidelined the 27-year-old since he defeated Mackens Semerzier at WEC 52 in a bout that earned Fight of the Night honors.

While Swanson struggled with consistency in his WEC days, he’s been in the cage with some of the best 145 pound fighters in the world. His last two losses have come to unbeaten Team Alpha Male powerhouse Chad Mendes and UFC featherweight champ Jose Aldo; the Brazilian finished Swanson with a vicious double flying knee in just eight seconds.

After amassing a 4-2 record in six WEC appearances, Lamas won his UFC debut in June, stopping Matt Grice late in the first round of their UFC on Versus 4 meeting in Pittsburgh. A former All-American and Division 3 wrestling champion, the win also marked the Chicago native’s first appearance in the featherweight ranks.

The historic November 12 event will be headlined by the UFC’s first bout to air on FOX, a heavyweight title bout between champion Cain Velasquez and #1 contender Junior dos Santos.

Be sure to keep checking Heavy MMA for further updates on the debut of the UFC on FOX.

Voting for the high profile, fourth annual World Mixed Martial Arts Awards show presented by “Fighters Only Magazine” started September 1st and will continue until November 25th. The distinctive silver MMA fighter awards will be presented to the winners on November 30, 2011. The black tie, red carpet event takes place at the Palms Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, NV.

Mark Mullen applies an arm bar to Ernesto Martinez during the Open Tap Out Tournament at Camp Schwab’s Power Dome Gym.
wikimedia commons

Winners are chosen by votes collected from MMA fans. According to information on fightersonlymagazine’s website, over 387,000 votes were received last year. The organizers of this year’s contest hope to attract even more fans this year.

Categories range from Fighter of the Year to Best Entrance to Best MMA Journalist.

After reading through the list of Submission of the Year nominees, I realized that I hadn’t seen some of them. I decided to take a look at each one before casting my vote. The award is supposed to be given to the fighter “who scored the most technical and/or slickest submission victory of the year.”

Submission of the Year Nominees

Click here to view the embedded video.

Chan Sung Jung (Korean Zombie) vs. Leonard Garcia at UFC Fight Night 24: first twister in the UFC (video), submission of the night

Pablo Garza vs. Yves Jabouin at UFC 129: Flying Triangle, submission of the night

Richard Hale vs. Nik Fekete at Bellator 38: Inverted triangle choke (video)

Vinny Magalhaes vs. Viktor Nemkov at M-1 Challenge 25: Vinny, the only Brazilian MMA fighter to make the list for Sub of the Year, defeated Russian MMA fighter Nemkov with a gogoplata neck crank.

Tito Ortiz vs. Ryan Bader at UFC 132: Guillotine choke (video). This fight with the surprising finish put Tito back in play with the UFC. A month after defeating Ryan Bader, Tito was back to face Rashad Evans at UFC 133. He lost to Rashad by TKO in the second round. Despite this loss, Tito has also been nominated in the “Comeback of the Year” category for resurrecting his career in the UFC.

Who has the Slickest Submission?

It was either luck or a stroke of pure genius that had me pick Tito to win against Ryan Bader at UFC 132. I don’t see him winning the Submission of the Year award for that guillotine choke though.

I’m taking Vinny out of the running for his gogoplata neck crank. The Korean Zombie’s twister was cool and unexpected, but not as cool as my top two choices – the flying triangle from Pablo Garza and Richard Hale’s inverted triangle choke.

My vote goes to Richard Hale. Anyone who can complete a submission performing a BJJ move while upside down is super-slick and deserves to win the award. The Bellator commentator in the background on Richard’s video sealed the deal when he said, “The former professional boxer scores an amazing technical submission win here in his Bellator debut.”

Who’s your favorite? Who will you vote for?

Coach Greg is available for tailor made Wrestling, MM A. BJJ, & Thai Boxing seminars/workshops world-wide. Please call or email The Academy for details (763)560-5696 or info@TheAcademyMN.com THERE IS LIMITED AVAILABILITY FOR 2011 CONTACT SOON TO SECURE YOUR SEMINAR.

Academy Head Coach Greg Nelson has his roots in athletic training and competition.  Mr. Nelson is a former University of Minnesota Wrestling Team member and an All-American high school gymnast.  In 1983 he started training in the Jun Fan Martial Arts, Filipino Kali and Muay Thai under Sifu Rick Faye.  Since then he has earned Full Instructor credentials in Jun Fan Martial Arts/Jeet Kune Do Concepts, Filipino Kali, and Level III Instructor in Maphilindo Silat under the legendary Guru Dan Inosanto.  Mr. Nelson is also a Senior Instructor in Muay Thai under Grand Master Surachai “Chai” Sirisute of the Thai Boxing Association of the USA. A grappler at heart, Nelson earned the level of Advanced Student in Shoot Wrestling under Sensei Yurinaga Nakamura, and a certified Full Instructor in Combat Submission Wrestling (CSW) under Erik Paulson.  Greg started his Brazilian Jiu Jitsu journey in 1989 taking a private under Master Rickson Gracie. In 1996 he became formal a student of 8th degree Red & Black Belt Professor Pedro Sauer.  Professor Sauer awarded Mr. Nelson as his first Black Belt in November 2002. Currently, he is a 2nd degree Black Belt and is the highest-ranking Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt in the state of Minnesota

On a competitive level he has put his skills to the test.  After graduating college in 1989, Nelson traveled to Thailand to train Muay Thai with some of the worlds best.  In 1992 he again went to Thailand and this trip gave him the urge to compete.  In the summer of 1993 he fought his first Muay Thai fight in Chicago IL and again 1995 internationally in Winnipeg Canada.  In 1994 he fought in Amateur Shooto (MMA) in LA.  In 1999 he put on the gi and won a Gold Medal in Blue Belt Masters in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at the IBJJF Pan-American Championships.  The following year Mr. Nelson won a Silver Medal in Purple Belt Masters at the 2000 IBJJF Pan-American Championships.  He competed in one more IBJJF Pan-American Championships in 2001 and then won three Gold Medals in the 2001 LA Grappling Games.

Mr. Nelson is well known as one of the best Mixed Martial Arts coaches in the sport & is in high demand worldwide for seminars and specialized workshops.  He spends much of his time researching and developing techniques and training methods to build The Academy fight teams.   As a coach, he has developed numerous world champions in both MMA and Muay Thai, Mr. Nelson and the Academy team have produced numerous other international, national, & state championship competitors and medal winners in professional and amateur Muay Thai & sport Brazilian Jiu Jitsu/ submission grappling. The Academy fighters hold victories in all of the major fight organizations worldwide; including the UFC, WEC, Pride Bushido, EliteXC, Strikeforce, SengokuWVR, BodogFIGHT, Shooto, King of the Cage, Super Brawl, Hook-N-Shoot, Prince’s Cup Thailand, Sanshou Championships in Bejing China, All-Osaka Shoot Boxing Championships in Osaka, Japan and many more.  Mr. Nelson and the Academy Team have produced three UFC Champions at 3 different weight classes. These include Dave Menne, the 1st Middleweight UFC World Champion, Sean Sherk Lightweight the 2nd UFC World Champion, and Brock Lesnar Heavyweight UFC World Champion. He holds the rare distinction in the MMA world of training them from the beginning of their fight careers to their title fights.

Over the years Mr. Nelson has taught defensive tactics to a wide variety of law enforcement and military personnel.  He  has worked with local, state, and federal law enforcement including the FBI, DEA, and Federal Air Marshals.  Currently, Mr. Nelson works extensively with various branches of the US military.  In 2010 he coached the Minnesota National Guard Combatives team at the All Army Combatives Tournament  in Ft. Benning GA.  He has assisted in the development of the Army Combatives Field Manual FM 31-25.150 and is a civilian member of the Modern Army Combatives Committee aimed at improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the Modern Army Combatives Program. In addition, Mr. Nelson is a combatives consultant for classified U.S. Army Special Forces units, the 75th Ranger Battalion, the US Army Combatives School Instructors and the Naval Special Warfare Development Group (SEAL Team 6).  Mr. Nelson is very proud to be one of the few civilians selected to work with the military and the soldiers that make our country safe.

Most importantly, Mr. Nelson is a husband and a father of a daughter and son.  In addition, he is a 2 time cancer survivor, first beating non-hodgkins lymphoma and secondly surviving a rare form of nerve cancer called neurolymphomatosis.  According to the Mayo Clinic, he was the first known survivor of this cancer and his case has played an instrumental role in the treatment of this rare disease.

He currently runs the CSW Training Center in Fullerton, California where he trains MMA fighters such as Josh Barnett, Ken Shamrock, Renato Sobral, Cub Swanson, Ben Jones, Craig Wilkerson, James Wilks and Ginelle Marquez. He is closely affiliated with Sean Sherk and Brock Lesnar of the Minnesota Martial Arts Academy.

Erik came out of retirement in October 2007 to headline the first HDNET MMA fight card. Paulson took on Jeff Ford in the main event of the night. Paulson made quick work of Ford, winning by spinning arm bar in the opening minutes of the first round.

Erik holds the rank of Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from Rigan Machado. He also trained extensively with Rorion, Royce, and Rickson Gracie. Erik trained Shoot wrestling under Yori Nakamura. Erik is the founder of Combat Submission Wrestling, and STX Kickboxing. Erik is currently writing a book along with American Combat Association president Matthew Granahan and JD Dwyer on the History of American Submission Wrestling. The book has just been released as of July 2010 [1]

Erik was the striking coach for Team Lesnar on The Ultimate Fighter: Season 13.

Reference: en.Wikipedia.ore/wiki/Erik_Paulson

Pablo “The ScareCrow” Garza began training at the Academy of Combat Arts in 2008 shortly after his first fight. Fargo Pablo Garza went on to win his next 8 fights and made an appearance on The Ultimate Fighter Season 12 Team GSP vs. KOS.  Pablo lost a close decision to the eventual Season 12 winner Michael Johnson to get into the house. Wasting no time on  missed opportunity, Pablo immediately got back into the cage and secured his next 3 wins before being called in as a last week replacement in the WEC against Chinese superstar Tiequan Zhang. Despite losing the last minute fight, the UFC wanted to give Pablo a share shake and offered him a fight on The Season 12 Finale in Las Vegas. This fight was a historic event as it was the UFC’s first 145 lbs. fight after the acquisition of the WEC.  Pablo Garza won by flying knee in the opening minute, solidifying himself in the record books and earning the Knockout of the Night Award. A few months later he was back in the Octagon taking on another historic challenge in front of the largest UFC crowd in history and finishing it off with a flying triangle and then earning the Submission of the Night award.
Pablo “The ScareCrow” Garza is also a  muay Thai Fargo instructor at the Academy of Combat Arts the leader in North Dakota MMA.

Visit Pablo Garza MMA site.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Garza_(fighter)
http://www.pablogarzamma.com/

Dane was a former West Fargo football player before he found his calling in Mixed Martial Arts.
Fargo’s own Dane Sayers, who began his fighting career long ago with the help of one of Fargo’s first MMA’ers Ethan Boyle. Starting at the ACA in early 2009, Dane’s star status began to rapidly rise with his attack hard fighting style and his indomitable fighting spirit. Within a year of training Fargo’s only MMA at the Academy of Combat Arts, Dane Sayers was chosen to be a part of The Ultimate Fighter Season 12 and became member of Team GSP / George St.Pierre. During that time he had the opportunity to work with some of the world’s best in Georges St.Pierre, Freddie Roach, Jonathan Brookings, and Mike Tyson.

My name is Indalecio Romero III, aka, Tat. Born in GF, ND and raised in Walhalla, ND. I’m a 2000 State Wrestling Champion at 171#. I am currently a Juvenile Probation Officer in Hibbing, MN.

The Dedication, Self Dignity, Self Respect, Honor it takes to push yourself to the limits every day. Not only in the gym but outside of it in order to carry yourself in the up most respect it takes to be a champion in life. I have wrestled since I was in diapers and always believed that has taught me everything I needed to know when it comes to overcoming adversity and cultivating resiliency. When wrestling was done for me fighting seemed like the logical thing to do to keep the fire inside my soul burning.

I fought Dane Sayers in a 5 round WAR. The thing about that is, I fought the whole team at the same time. ACA is a family and I wanted to be part of that family. A WOLF IS ONLY AS STRONG AS THE PACK HE RUNS WITH!

I like that you need to be a fighter outside the gym just as much as you do inside. The BLOOD . . The SWEAT. . .The TEARS it takes to become the champion of a 15-25 minute WAR

I like so many fighters. Fighters that hold them self like a champion, weather they are or not. Classy in victory and defeat. I pride myself on my sportsmanship and my class inside and outside the cage. SOMEONE IS ALWAYS WATCHING YOU AND WANTS TO BE JUST . . . LIKE . . . YOU.