Tag: professional debut

CagePotato Amateur Spotlight: Top Amateur Radames Garcia Awaiting Professional Debut


Props: bpatelphoto.com

By CagePotato Contributor Michael Sanchez

Bantamweights beware. Radames Garcia is looking to destroy your dreams. Ranked number one in the nation and sporting an amateur record of 9-1, all he is waiting for is a chance to make his pro debut.

“My last two opponents pulled out. My coach said one of them thought I was too big,” Garcia said.

The 29-year old native of Miami, Florida is fighting out of Cung Le’s gym in San Jose, California. In a little more than two years, Garcia managed to win two state titles in the amateur leagues of both California and Nevada.

Garcia first learned about MMA from a conversation with his co-worker. He invited Garcia to train with him at Tribull Mixed Martial Arts Center.

“At first, I thought it was illegal. I wanted to make sure it was legit. I had no clue about it at the time and I didn’t want the cops to bust down the doors and end up in jail,” Garcia laughed.


Props: bpatelphoto.com

By CagePotato Contributor Michael Sanchez

Bantamweights beware. Radames Garcia is looking to destroy your dreams. Ranked number one in the nation and sporting an amateur record of 9-1, all he is waiting for is a chance to make his pro debut.

“My last two opponents pulled out. My coach said one of them thought I was too big,” Garcia said.

The 29-year old native of Miami, Florida is fighting out of Cung Le’s gym in San Jose, California. In a little more than two years, Garcia managed to win two state titles in the amateur leagues of both California and Nevada.

Garcia first learned about MMA from a conversation with his co-worker. He invited Garcia to train with him at Tribull Mixed Martial Arts Center.

“At first, I thought it was illegal. I wanted to make sure it was legit. I had no clue about it at the time and I didn’t want the cops to bust down the doors and end up in jail,” Garcia laughed.

Garcia went and was hooked. He walked into Tribull in July 2010 and had his first fight in November. Garcia ended up losing by submission. He later parted ways to train at Cung Le’s.

“Tribull focused more on grappling than stand-up,” said Garcia, “my hands were wild so my coaches and other fighters recommended me to Cung Le. So, I took a level one kickboxing class over there and I liked it.”

In the beginning of February 2011, Garcia enrolled in Cung’s school and had his second amateur fight on the 20th. He won by submission.

Garcia continued to train and rapidly rose through the ranks, eventually winning the 2011 California State Championships and the Nevada State Championships in Reno.

Garcia never expected to win any titles.

“It never came to mind. I just wanted to compete in a sport. I thought this was a cool opportunity to challenge myself and compete.”

And that exactly is his motivation to continue in this sport.

“I just want to compete and impress the crowd. I just want to get in the cage and hit somebody in the face and not get in trouble for it. It’s fun. I’m just smiling and high-fiving the crowd while my opponent is going all 8-Mile with his hoodie on and being all angry.” Garcia said.

One opponent was particularly angry. After Garcia’s victory, he learned his opponent’s goal was to remain undefeated and become a UFC champion. Garcia was then bestowed the moniker of “The Dream Crusher” by his fight team.

However, “The Dream Crusher” has his own dreams in MMA.

“I would love to win a pro title in any league. I was hoping Strikeforce but it’s going out of business. I now just want to keep beating undefeated fighters,” Garcia said.

Throwback Fight of the Day: Georges St. Pierre’s Controversial Pro Debut Against Ivan Menjivar


(Coors Light?! And here we thought Canadians were passionate about the quality of beer they drink.) 

A little over a year ago, Georges St. Pierre was riding high. He had defended his belt for the sixth straight time against Jake Shields at an event that both obliterated North American attendance records and satisfied his home country’s need for bloodshed without having to sacrifice his first born child, as is tradition. Although he was being bashed by some critics for his apparent lack of finishing power, “Rush” would quickly meet a challenger that would bring out the inner killer his fans had been waiting for since UFC 83. Needless to say, things were going well for old GSP.

And then he took an arrow to the knee.

Yes, after blowing out his ACL, the welterweight kingpin was forced out of action for so long that even his stand-in champion went missing in an apparent attempt to find him. In the time since we last saw St. Pierre, his beloved homeland of Canada eeked out a respectable 36th place in the Summer Olympics, celebrated the 60th anniversary of one of their biggest television programs, and even closed the book on one of the most bizarre crimes in the country’s history. So overall, it was a decent year for any Canadian not named Georges St. Pierre.

But come November 17th, all that will change for at least one man, as GSP is set to finally make his triumphant return to the cage at UFC 154. And to celebrate his return, we’ve decided to dig up the fight that started it all. It took place in January of 2002 in Montreal and pitted the future champ against future UFC/WEC bantamweight (sheesh) Ivan Menjivar in his professional debut.

Video after the jump. 


(Coors Light?! And here we thought Canadians were passionate about the quality of beer they drink.) 

A little over a year ago, Georges St. Pierre was riding high. He had defended his belt for the sixth straight time against Jake Shields at an event that both obliterated North American attendance records and satisfied his home country’s need for bloodshed without having to sacrifice his first born child, as is tradition. Although he was being bashed by some critics for his apparent lack of finishing power, “Rush” would quickly meet a challenger that would bring out the inner killer his fans had been waiting for since UFC 83. Needless to say, things were going well for old GSP.

And then he took an arrow to the knee.

Yes, after blowing out his ACL, the welterweight kingpin was forced out of action for so long that even his stand-in champion went missing in an apparent attempt to find him. In the time since we last saw St. Pierre, his beloved homeland of Canada eeked out a respectable 36th place in the Summer Olympics, celebrated the 60th anniversary of one of their biggest television programs, and even closed the book on one of the most bizarre crimes in the country’s history. So overall, it was a decent year for any Canadian not named Georges St. Pierre.

But come November 17th, all that will change for at least one man, as GSP is set to finally make his triumphant return to the cage at UFC 154. And to celebrate his return, we’ve decided to dig up the fight that started it all. It took place in January of 2002 in Montreal and pitted the future champ against future UFC/WEC bantamweight (sheesh) Ivan Menjivar in his professional debut.

As was the case in Jon Jones’ UFC debut against Andre Gusmao, we can see a similar yet less refined fighter in GSP here. Watch in awe as he tests out the superman punch that would eventually find it’s way onto the Sportscenter top 10 when he used it on BJ Penn at UFC 94. Marvel at his superhuman ability to thwart a takedown as he would against Josh Koscheck at UFC 74. But we’ll give Menjivar credit where credit is due; his experience surely helped, but couldn’t possibly make up for his definitive size disadvantage, yet he still managed to take GSP down. Sean Connery approves.

But once St. Pierre is able to capitalize on a Menjivar trip around the 8:40 mark, he unleashes a hailstorm of punches and elbows that, while not enough to put Menjivar out, are apparently enough to get the ref to jump in and call the bout. Definitely an odd ending to an otherwise great bout. St. Pierre would go on to win his next six bouts before being armbarred just before the bell by Matt Hughes at UFC 50 in his first ever welterweight title shot.

St. Pierre would get his revenge not once, but twice on Hughes, and it would be smooth sailing from there on out. Mostly.

–J. Jones