Hillary VanOrnum & Gabi Garcia to Compete at Fight to Win Portland

I mentioned how Hillary was opening a new gym, and fairly recently it was announced that she’s going to be competing against Gabi Garcia on June 7th. Pretty exciting!

While most of us can’t make it to the event in person due to silly things like taking time off for traveling and responsibilities, Fight to Win usually streams the event through flograppling.com and I would say this is probably one to sign up to watch. Just my opinion though.

That’s all for now: have a great day everyone!

 

 

Gabi Garcia MMA Fight Tonight (or Today? Right Now?)

Oh, it already happened. Garcia won, MMA Junkie reports:

“The anticipated MMA debut of 10-time jiu-jitsu world champion Gabi Garcia (1-0) played out like the spectacle many had expected when she stopped Seini Draughn (0-1) by first-round TKO after a sloppy, back-and-forth women’s heavyweight fight… After some wild striking exchanges, Garcia clipped Draughn with a backhand that caused a knockdown. Garcia got on top and pounded away with hammerfists until referee John McCarthy called an end to the contest.”

Feel free to check out the rest of the rest of the article, which includes the rest of the summary of Garcia’s fight, as well as the results for Kron Gracie and Feder Emelianenko’s fights.

Have a great day everyone, and see you in the New Year!

 

Happy Friday: Garcia/Dern/Metamoris 6 Edition

Happy Friday everyone!

So apparently the saga continues: according to an article in MMA Fighting, there were talks of Mackenzie Dern and Gabi Garcia fighting in Metamoris 6, but couldn’t come to terms with payment. According to Dern, the paltry sum they were willing to pay the female fighters, in addition to the match being on absurdly short notice (4 days before the event) just didn’t make sense and that it’s detrimental to women’s jiu jitsu, and I absolutely agree. It sets a precedent that would take a long time to reverse, if ever.

However, believe it or not I can also see Garcia’s point about wanting to fight anyone, anywhere (I know, I surprise me too sometimes). Personally, it grates against my soul to think of walking away from a fight. I think Gabi needs to see the bigger picture here though: it’s not about the fighting, it’s about the expectations that is being set when agreeing to do these sorts of events. I don’t think she’s seeing the larger implication by accepting a smaller amount- that her jiu jitsu is worth less than a man’s jiu jitsu. She and Dern are some of the most recognized names in the community, male or female, so why should they accept a sum that would be more deserving of a lesser known name?

Either she doesn’t realize this, or just doesn’t care- which actually I wouldn’t be surprised. I imagine she’s had a lifetime of practice not giving a damn what other people say or think, but in this case I do think she needs to take a step back and see the longer, more nuanced implications of her actions.

What do you guys think? Let me know- otherwise, have a great weekend everyone!

Video of Finals Match Between Gabi Garcia & Mackenzie Dern

This past weekend the IBJJF held their No Gi Worlds tournament, and Jiu Jitsu Times posted a video of the finals match between black belts Mackenzie Dern and Gabi Garcia.

I have to say while Dern did lose, I was pretty impressed with her performance: I’ve watched previous matches with Garcia, and not a lot of people can do much with her and lots of people make the mistake of trying to get under her. I think Dern played as smart as she could, and tried a couple of submissions which was cool to see.

Anyway, check out the video when you have a chance and let me know what you think-otherwise have a great day everyone!