For 27-year-old Pablo “The Scarecrow” Garza (10-1), the old adage proved true, and the third time was indeed a charm.
After failing to make it into The Ultimate Fighter Season 12 house and then losing his first WEC fight, which he took on five days notice, Garza thought his dream of fighting in the UFC was lost forever.
But then, in an ironic twist of fate, Garza got a call offering him a fight at the finale of the very show he had failed to make it on.
Knowing this could possibly be his last chance to make it into the UFC, Garza was looking to make a statement. And make a statement he did.
Just 51 seconds into the fight Garza threw a flying knee that knocked out BJJ black belt Fredson Paixao (10-4), winning the first featherweight bout in UFC history. He was also awarded “Knockout of the Night” for the impressive finish.
Now, Garza is back and is set to face off against Yves “Tiger” Jabouin (15-6) this Saturday at UFC 129 emanating from the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Garza spoke with ProMMAnow.com‘s Josh Cross this past week about his fight with Jabouin, how the two match up, and how he feels he can win the fight.
Garza also discussed the advantage of having his fight broadcast live on Facebook, if he is still disappointed he didn’t make it onto The Ultimate Fighter Season 12, and what his goals are now he is in the big show.
PRO MMA NOW: Can you talk about your training camp for this fight and how that’s been going?
PABLO GARZA: My training camp is going really good. I’ve been doing the first part of training camp here in Fargo, North Dakota at the Academy of Combat Arts, which is my regular training school. We are also an affiliate of the Minnesota Martial Arts Academy in Minneapolis, and I’ve been doing a lot of my latter part of the training camp over there as well. It’s going really good.
PRO MMA NOW: How much do you know about your opponent going into this fight?
PABLO GARZA: He is a really good striker. He’s really dynamic. His fight against [Mark] Hominick was voted for like one of the fight of the year awards. He’s really good at being really dynamic. He’s thrown a lot of spinning back fists, spinning elbows, and like spinning elbows and all of that stuff. He’s also a pretty good wrestler as well. So he’s a pretty good challenge for me.
PRO MMA NOW: Now the majority of your wins have come by submission while the majority of your opponent’s wins have come by TKO. Going into this fight, do you feel like the best chance for you to win is by keeping it on the ground?
PABLO GARZA: I feel like I can win this fight wherever. It really doesn’t matter to me. As for how I’m going to go about it, I’d rather not say.
PRO MMA NOW: In your last fight you won by getting a TKO via an impressive flying knee. Should we be on the lookout for something similar during this fight or anything else like that?
PABLO GARZA: I’m sure he has seen that plenty of times, and I’m sure he has thought about it. Yeah, I’m pretty sure he is going to be thinking about that. I guess that he realizes now that I have knockout power, that I’m not just submitting people. As for the fight, if an opportunity presents itself to me then yeah, of course I’ll hit it again you know.
PRO MMA NOW: UFC 129 will be the first event that all of the fights can be seen live by fans not at the event in person. Now with your fight being on Facebook, can you talk about that and having your fight being streamed live around the world?
PABLO GARZA: It’s great. It kind of gives an opportunity for us guys on the undercard more of an audience base I guess. The people that don’t get much media exposure can now get it through Facebook so it’s a great opportunity for friends and family and relatives at home and all that to go check it out. I think it’s a great idea and I’m pretty sure that they’ll probably have more of these just like that in the future.
PRO MMA NOW: Moving beyond this fight, are there any specific goals or things that you want to accomplish in the near future when it comes to your MMA career?
PABLO GARZA: Well my long term goal was to make it to the UFC and I guess I made it, so now I guess my goal is definitely going to be to stay in the UFC. A lot of people don’t realize that sometimes the hardest part of fighting in the UFC isn’t getting to the UFC it’s actually staying in the UFC, like performing. That is defiantly my goal now.
PRO MMA NOW: You tried out to be on Season 12 of The Ultimate Fighter but you came up just short of making it into the house. Seeing where you’re at now, fighting on this huge card, are you content that you didn’t make it into the house or do you still wish you could have been a part of the show?
PABLO GARZA: I’m not disappointed that I didn’t make it into the house. At first when it happened I mean I was a little disappointed. I felt like I could have done better and I felt like I let a big opportunity slip through my fingers. When I got home I just went straight to the drawing board again, taking a couple more fights, and then I got that call from the WEC, which I took a fight on five days notice. I figured that was going to be my second chance to definitely get my foot in the door and make it to the big leagues. I took that fight on five days notice and I ended up losing and getting guillotined in the first round, which really sucked that it didn’t go my way. I’m glad that the UFC gave me a third chance. You know the third time is a charm, and this time they gave me it with plenty of time to train. I ended up getting in a good three months of training camp and then made sure to capitalize on that chance that they gave me at The Ultimate Fighter Finale, which was kind of ironic that I ended up fighting on the finale when it was the show that I didn’t get on.
PRO MMA NOW: Can you talk about what it’s like working with Revgear and having them as a sponsor?
PABLO GARZA: It’s great. I mean he’s given me a lot of opportunities to get all of these different interviews and get my name out there and it works both ways. He’s given me exposure and I’m trying to do my best to give them as much exposure. Revgear is the first really big nationally known sponsor that I have. So just here in a couple of days I’m going to make sure that their investment in me doesn’t go to waste, and show them that I’m a good person to be representing Revgear.
PRO MMA NOW: What would be the best way for fans to keep track of what you’ve got coming up in the future?
PABLO GARZA: I don’t do Twitter. I’ve got a Facebook Fan Page that you can go to. I also just got up my own website at PabloGarzaMMA.com. You can go on there and check it out. It has all sorts of stuff about me and where I train.
PRO MMA NOW: Are there any specific sponsors you would like to plug or people you would like to thank?
PABLO GARZA: I want to thank Revgear once again. Then I also want to thank The Red Pepper, which is a local restaurant here in Grand Forks, North Dakota. They’ve been sponsoring me since way before I got to the UFC, and my fiancé who is jumping up and down in front of me wanting me to give a shout out to her as well. Also I’d like to thank my coaches, my training partners and the ACA (Academy of Combat Arts) and Minnesota Martial Arts Academy for sure.