Pablo Garza isn’t a household name among UFC fans, but if you bring up who was the guy who did the flying triangle at UFC 129 in Toronto, then the name rings a bell. That is nothing new for Garza (11-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) as he faces Dustin Poirier (10-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) on the preliminary card of UFC on Fox 1, which takes place Saturday at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.
The card streams live on Facebook while a main event pitting heavyweight champ Cain Velasquez against challenger Junior Dos Santos airs live on FOX.
The flying triangle choke on Yves Jabouin at UFC 129 which netted Garza submission of the night, was something Garza said was never really practiced and likes to try new things.
I didn’t practice that at all. It’s a move that after jiu-jitsu classes, me and a couple friends will stick around and try these like crazy moves. It’s kind of like after basketball practice, you go to the halfway line and starting to launch balls to see if you can make it. That’s like the equivalent of what we do every once in a while. Hey let’s try this crazy move, or look at this crazy move I saw on YouTube and that’s the extent of practicing it. I’ve done it in jiu-jitsu tournaments. I’ve done flying triangles before, it’s a lot easier with a gi on.
For his submission of the night victory at UFC 129, Garza got received a $129,000 bonus which is the largest bonus ever given out at a UFC event. You would think Garza would have lived it up, but that wasn’t the case for the North Dakota native.
People think I went out and bought a Mercedes or some awesome car or something. That’s definitely not what I did. It took a lot a of sacrifice to get to the UFC. It took a lot of not paying bills and just getting really in major debt. So I ended up being smart about it and paid off my debt. I went off and used some of the money to buy a house now.
Garza struggled a lot to get this point mentally and financially and has advice for the guys who are trying to make to the UFC.
Just keep going, especially when can’t go anymore. When you absolutely think you have to quit, keep going. Sometimes you get that big break. There’s been two or three times when I told my coach, ‘you know, I’m done, I can’t do this anymore. I’m done trying to be a professional fighter.’ Then we made a deal, ‘you stick around for one more year and if nothing happens in that year, I’ll let you quit.’ That’s what my coach told me. Within that year, I got onto The Ultimate Fighter, got into the WEC, got into the UFC and have had two UFC fights since. Got real lucky.
Garza and Poirier are 2-0 this year and looking to cap their years undefeated. Garza has great respect and admiration for Poirier.
Very impressive, he’s a really tough guy. Really great striker, top contender, legitimate fighter. I have a lot of respect for him. I think it’s going to be a great fight for the fans to see, can’t wait.
The Garza-Poirier scrap was the first announced for the Fox show when the UFC and Fox agreed to a deal a few months back. Garza is really honored he was a part of the first fight announced and wants to put on a show on quite arguably the biggest day in the history of the sport.
I couldn’t believe I was chosen to be on that show. It’s the first time in history the UFC is going to be on Fox. I just felt really honored that the UFC thought I would be a good fight on there and could perform. I’m sure they are expecting they want people who are going to perform and have really good fights. So for them to have faith in me, to do that meant a lot. Gonna try and not disappoint.
To listen to the entire interview with Pablo Garza listen here.
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