Q&A With MMA Fighter Gabriel Solorio

D Wizzle talked to MMA fighter Gabriel Solorio this week.  Solorio will be fighting Evan Esguerra this Saturday night at the San Jose Civic Auditorium.  

Solorio is 19 years old and is coming off a big win over Justin Hoglund at the Gladiator Challenge "Summer Showdown" event in July in San Francisco. 

This  fight will be a part of Strikeforce's Young Guns III show. 

Solorio is from East Wenetchee, Washington, but this  145 pound fighter now resides in Turlock, California.  

For tickets to the show, you can call Carie at 408.569.3147   or  you can also purchase tickets on the night of the show at the  ticket office.

Tickets are priced at $40/$60/$80.

Q&A with Gabriel Solorio

Hey Gabriel, how's it going?

It's  going good. I am just getting ready for the fight.

You will be fighting Evan Esguerra on Saturday night.  What do you know about him?

Well, I know he has good stand up. I  am not sure about his ground game but i am ready for anything.  It will be a good fight to test my striking skills.

 

You are a very young MMA fighter. Can you tell me how you got into MMA?

My uncle got me into it. He used to strap the gloves to me, my brothers, and my cousins, and we would just go at it.  He showed me some  UFC tapes and I  just got hooked from there.

Which gym do you train at and who are some of  your instructors and training partners?

The gym I  train at is Team Voodoo out of Turlock,  California.  My instructors are Gene and Cat Fields.  Some of my training partners are Jeremiah Metcalf, Josh Neal, Anthony Ruiz, and Jorge Interiano. Jorge  is also fighting at  the Young Guns show.

Who are some of your favorite MMA fighters to watch?

I like to watch B.J. Penn  becaouse he has it all -  good stand-up, great takedown defense, and great jiu-jitsu.  His fights are never boring and he's not scared to fight anyone.  I  thought  he won the first fight with GSP.

Do you prefer to stand or get the fight to the ground?

i prefer to stand.

 If you were not a MMA fighter, what would you  be doing instead?

 Boxing.

Thanks for taking the time to talk to me.  Good luck on Saturday against Evan! Do you  have any final words for the fans out there?

Thanks.  Everyone better go because it's gonna  be a good one!

Gladiator Challenge "Summer Showdown" Summary and Results

Kezar Pavilion in San Francisco was host to Gladiator Challenge's "Summer Showdown" event last Friday night. There were ten fights in total, and only three of the fights ended in a decision.

Most of the fights were hard hitting and exciting. The most exciting fight was a fight that ended up in a split decision.

Zak Bucia was awarded a split decision after a three round war. The match was a back and forth tussle but the match stalled in the third round as both fighters were gassed.

The crowd was really into this fight and it was the fight of the night.

The decision could have gone either way as the fight was very competitive and even. They both had their moments offensively landing kicks and punches. Bucia was caught in a triangle but was saved by the bell in the first round.

The main event was between Kurt Osiander and Nate Moore. Osiander is a black belt instructor at the Ralph Gracie Academy in San Francisco. Moore fights out of the American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) in San Jose.

90% of the crowd was on the side of Osiander as it appeared that all of his students were in attendance.

Believe it or not, the main event ended faster than the main events at the UFC and Affliction shows over the weekend.

Much to the displeasure of the crowd, Moore knocked Osiander down with a flurry of punches and the referee had to stop the fight after only six seconds.

Osiander never had the opportunity to try to take down Moore, and attempt to submit him.

UFC welterweight fighter, Jon Fitch, was in Moore's corner. Fitch also cornered for another AKA teammate, Wayne Phillips, who lost a unanimous decision to Joey Armstrong.

The Ralph Gracie Academy students left Kezar Pavilion stunned and disappointed.

Another fan favorite, Justin "The Hero" Hoglund, also lost as his fight was stopped in the second round due to a cut. Hoglund, who trains at Ralph Gracie's Academy, had a cut that was opened up by his opponent, 19-year-old Gabriel Solorio in the first round.

Solorio was booed heavily and the ending didn't help endear him to the pro-Hoglund crowd. Solorio told me after the fight that he didn't let the boos get to him.

"There was a lot of hate there. I didn't let the crowd get to me. I knew what I was trying to do and I did it," said Solorio."I wanted to stand up and trade some punches, but he wanted to go against the cage and clinch. It started working good for me so I beat him at his own game."

In a battle of heavyweights, John Devine defeated Richard Blake by TKO due to strikes. Blake protested the stoppage by the referee to no avail. The fans were not pleased with what they thought was an early stop to the fight, and some of them started to throw t-shirts into the cage.

The t-shirts the fans were throwing into the cage were the shirts thrown into the crowd by the ring card girls in between rounds.

A fighter that really impressed me was a middlewight named Raul Castillo. Castillo mounted his opponent, Josh Neal, and delivered some vicious punches to end the fight at the 1:36 mark of round one.

Castillo is now 5-0 with four of the wins via TKO. He is definitely one fighter to keep an eye on.

The other winners from Friday night were Ryan Bastianelli, Matt Greene, Larry Mays, and Mike Fazzino.

Mays won his fight over Will Davis due to a verbal tapout at the end of round two.

Fazzino defeated San Francisco police officer, Bryan Lujan, by TKO due to strikes at the 2:18 mark of the first round. Fazzino took him down and then started to rain down repeated punches which forced the referee to end the fight.

It was a chilly and cold night, but the women in the building were very hot. There were lots of beautiful women dressed in short tube tops, dresses, and miniskirts.

The crowd was very lively and raucous throughout the course of the evening.

Although none of the fighters on the card are household names, most of them fought valiantly and impressively. The fights were mostly entertaining and the atmosphere inside Kezar Pavilion was electric.

The Bay Area MMA fans who watched "Summer Showdown" all seemed to have a good time even though a lot of them left disappointed due to some of the fan favorites losing.

Overall, the night was a huge success for Gladiator Challenge and the promoters, Full Contact Promotions, as the fans enjoyed over three hours of entertaining MMA fights.