The first fighter in focus is Elias Garcia, fighting out of Corpus Christie, TX. He’ll be taking on hometown favorite CJ Vergara for ABG’s 135 lbs. belt.
Born in Pasadena, TX near Houston, the 26 year old graduated from La Porte High School in 2004 and subsequently joined the United States Coast Guard. He’s been stationed in Corpus Christie ever since (7 years now) and has been involved in various assignments ranging from exciting duties in the enforcements division (e.g. conducting high interest vessel boarding offshore, search and rescue, etc.) to more mundane work, like sitting behind a desk staring at a computer screen. Preferring the former, Elias wandered into MMA by chance when his buddy Colt Gillis had trained in Kajukenbo all of his life introduced him to an MMA gym called Arts of Defense. Being a fan of the sport and fighters like Wanderlei Silva and Dan Henderson ever since high school, it wasn’t too hard for Elias to jump right in. “You learn a lot about yourself training and inside,” he says about why he continues to pursue his passion for the sport.
Now 6-1 overall on the amateur level, Elias will see his coast guard enlistment come to an end this July. He plans on joining the reserves and also go back to college but finally being to train almost every day versus twice a week is also something he looks forward to. “I want to obtain a degree in either psychology or sports medicine but I also want to see how far I can go in MMA,” he says of what the future holds for him.
That’s the type of mind frame Elias will be carrying with him when he faces CJ Vergara for the bantamweight belt at Alamo Showdown 3. Winning his last bout by first round guillotine, he knows he’ll face a tough challenge in his 4-1 opponent but he wouldn’t have it any other way. He says it will make victory that much sweeter. “I don’t want to give anything away too much that I’ve been focusing on but I’m just ready for a war,” Elias says about the fight. Training with Weapons at Hand, he expects to be more prepared than ever for this one.”My Coach Rudy, Ricky, Anarchy, Vince, and my girl Christi… I couldn’t ask for a better team because it seems like everyone there is on the same page and helps push each other to our max.”
“This fight means a lot to me just like any other fight, of course I want to win a third title but it’s much more than that to me because it’s my validation that everything that I have been sacrificing hasn’t been for nothing and all the time that my coaches and training partners have invested in me hasn’t been wasted. Winning or losing won’t determine that, the only thing that will is if I perform to the best of my abilities and leave everything inside that cage. How do I expect to win? Any way possible.”
Fighter Acknowledgements
The first shout out would definitely have to go GOD – I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Dolores who puts up with me while training for fights, ALL of our kids Alize, Rozlyn, Jr., Elias III, and Raelyn, my sponsors SWOLLE Fitness Apparel, Rocks Vitamins and Supplements, Mi Guerra, Mako Contracting, Coastline Safety and Supply, H.I.S. Fire and Safety, and TexasFighting.com. Also to my coaches Stacy Jorgensen, Rudy Valenzuela, and everyone else at Weapons at Hand. Last but not least, THE UNITED STATES COAST GUARD – the service that everyone forgets about until they need us the most. You know what, I would also like to give a shout out to you Mr. Calimbas for taking the time to write an article about my upcoming fight. Also for updates on what I’m doing and if you want to talk about fighting with me hit up my fan page on Facebook under Elias Smash Garcia, like it and share the page to help get my name out on the scene. Thanks again.