Pablo Garza- Impressive at UFC 129

For UFC featherweight Pablo Garza, the list of firsts just keeps on growing. Garza was in the first UFC featherweight fight, was the first winner of a UFC featherweight fight, earned the first Knockout of the Night as a featherweight in the UFC and now stands as the first UFC featherweight to win submission of the night.
If all that isn’t enough, the flying triangle choke and submission of the night he used to secure his victory over Yves Jabouin at UFC 129 was the first of its kind in the UFC. The man is after UFC record books, and will stop at nothing less than being the first to defeat champion José Aldo inside the UFC and take his belt. He is rather modest and would not say such things, but it is clear he is on his way up.
“I just want to stay in the UFC right now,” he said. “A lot of people think it is getting to the UFC that is the toughest, but it is staying here that’s tough. You’re constantly surrounded by top competition and there is a lot of pressure to constantly perform.”
The fight between Garza and Jabouin began with Garza on the short end of striking. It became clear early on that his UFC debut knockout of Fredson Paixão with a flying knee might not be an indicator of a strong standup game. The two fighters eventually clinched up and both seemed to be catching their breath, then it happened.
“I was prepared to do the submission if (Jabouin) went in for a single-leg,” Garza said. “The game plan was if he has one leg, shoot for the triangle. It just worked out that we were in the clinch and I was like ‘Okay I’ll do it from the clinch.’”
Garza grabbed hold of Jabouin’s right arm with his right, grabbed Jabouin by the back of the head with his left and gracefully launched himself into the air. In the process of sailing through the air, the MMA savvy crowd erupted as they saw him tuck both legs around the back of his neck and sink in the triangle choke before lightly hitting the mat.
After a brief struggle in which Garza shifted to the mount while maintaining the triangle hold, he rolled over to his back and Jabouin tapped at 4:31 of the first round.
“For a while there I was worried he was going to slip out of it,” Garza said. “That’s why I switched over to the mount, I loosened up the hold and started to focus on using elbows and my hands to end the fight. I started to feel him trying to push me off so I used us momentum to roll over and sink in the choke.”
Garza had quite a comical post-fight interview with UFC commentator Joe Rogan that culminated with him yelling, “Give me my money Dana!” referring to the Submission of the Night bonus he was all but certain he would receive. He also thanked his new sponsor Revgear, who also sponsored Mark Bocek at UFC 129.
“They have benefitted me in so many ways,” he said. “Just the fact that I know they believe in me, that someone believes in me, motivates me to get out there and perform. It’s also nice to not have to buy any of my own equipment anymore.”
As for what’s next for the newcomer, he said he has no plans to focus on fighting for the next few weeks.
“I just want to relax for a while,” he said. “I had Taco Bell for the first time in months yesterday. I got halfway through a soft taco and I almost threw it up, so I guess I’ll have to recondition my body to handle that stuff again.”
As for where he fits in the featherweight division in the UFC, Garza said he isn’t sure.
“I’ve raised some eyebrows,” he said. “But I’m not like a dominant force in the division or anything right now. I’ve got so much work to do and so much to improve on. I’m going to go back and look at this last fight in a few weeks and its going to go from being a highlight right now to a really bad fight that I have to dissect and get better from.”