HOUSTON, TX, November 2, 2012 – CDM Promotions is back this weekend in Northwest Houston for Elite Amateur Combat 4, scheduled for this Saturday at the Texas Tornadoes Training Center near HW290 and West Road.

The main event on top of this planned nine-fight card features what is sure to be a fast and furious flyweight title clash as Silverback Fight Club’s Jacob “Lil’ Animal” Silva (5-3) takes on CDM’s Luis De Leon (2-1).

For Luis this is an opportunity to take on one of the more established amateur fighters in his weight class to make a name for himself.

For Jacob, a future firefighter, this is an opportunity to erase the nasty taste of a close split decision loss in his last fight with a win and take home his third amateur title in the process.

We recently caught up with Jacob Silva to talk more about this fight and everything else going on for him as of late.

Interview – Jacob Silva (Silverback Fight Club)

Jacob, thanks as always for talking to us. What have you been up to lately?

Well I already graduated from the fire academy at HCC. I want be a fire fighter so that was a big step. Thanks to my uncle David Avalos who made me realize how good of a job it really is. I get to help people. Aside from that I’m trying to spend as much time with my daughter as possible – to me, she’s everything.

For the fans that need to catch up, tell them about your MMA career so far.

Well it’s been a roller coaster. My very first fight was against Joe Trevino for the Legacy 125 title. That was my debut and he already had 3-4 fights so I think I was picked to lose. We had a hell of a fight though. After that I fought Alex Ramirez and won by unanimous decision. Then I fought Manny Lozoya for the Garcia Promotions 125 belt and won that fight by third round TKO. Both those guys are cool as hell and my teammates now. Anyways, I defended that same belt against Joe Trevino and lost in the first round with a rear-naked choke. I only got one punch in that entire fight but it was a good one. Joe and I are cool. I’d like to train with him one day.

After that fight I fought James Deherrera and won by third round TKO then beat Hugo Delafuente with the same result. Then I finally got a shot at the Legacy belt against and beat Ricky Turcios for the belt. We had a rematch where I lost a split decision. Now I’m fighting for the CDM belt this Saturday so let’s see what happens.

You’ve had some solid amateur fights. Do you want to turn pro anytime soon?

I will turn pro soon real soon. I believe I’m ready. i just want to reach my goal of 10 fights as an amateur first before I make any other goals. I have some other things I’m focusing on outside of fighting too so I’m going to take it slow and do things right. I don’t want to put stress on top of stress.

How do you think you’ve improved most over the course of your amateur fights? How will that experience help you this Saturday?

I think I’m evolving all around but most of all I’m not hurt for this fight. I’ve always been injured in a fight and I’m not this time so I’m feeling real good about Saturday..

What do you know about your opponent? Any thoughts?

i really don’t know anything about this guy except he is 2-0 and he is a boxer. Still, you never know how things will end up so no predictions here. All I have to say is that my last fight had me mad these last few months so he better hope his cardio and heart is stronger than mine is.

Any plans after this fight provided you win the belt?

I don’t know really. I told Eric Garcia I’ll fight on his December 21st card but I’m not the only one who makes the decision. Here at Silverback we have group meeting about who is going to fight. If more hands goes up then you fight. If no hands go up then you’re sitting on your ass down and training until we all think u are ready.

Any last words before Elite Amateur Combat 2 this Saturday?

Well thanks for the interview. I really like talking to everybody at TXMMA.com. I want to thank my wife for understanding my training schedule. I want to thank all my sponsors: Caballos Barber Shop at Northwest Mall, St. Michael’s Emergency Room and Dr. Orsak, Migrane Records who made my walkout song, and Larry Hopskin at Oxygen for Energy.

To all my gorillas at SFC, thanks for whooping my ass every day to make be better, especially my brother Leroy Shafer. He really don’t hold back on going light. A shout out to moms and pops at SFC. Also it will be my grandma’s birthday on November 3rd,so happy birthday grandma. I love you.