PAL/Fisticuffs Fight Night

First of all I'd like to congratulate all of the Fisticuffs fighters who represented our gym well. Jorell Reynosa from Fisticuffs started off the night with the first fight of the night with a amateur bout.

Jorell came out strong against a tough opponent, Carlos Ariasa from Beaverton PAL. It turned out to be a great fight with Jorell getting the nod from the judges and setting the tone of the night for great fights.

Jorell landing his jab.

The next Fisticuffs fighter up was Sammy "The Man" Perez who faced Danny Ruiz of Riverside Ca, in the Co-main event.

As soon as the fight started I knew Sammy had his work cut out for him. Ruiz who stepped into the ring undefeated with a 2-0 record came to fight. He used his longer reach and keep Sammy on the outside most of the first round.

The second round Sammy adapted to Ruiz's style and worked the inside with a flurry of punches that seemed to hurt Ruiz at the end of the round. Round three and four was very exciting with both fighters giving their all, but Sammy out worked Ruiz with his speed and eight to ten punch combinations. In both rounds Sammy seemed to have Ruiz in trouble at times but was unable to finish him before the rounds ended.

The judges gave Sammy the four round majority decision and his first win as a pro.

Sammy getting the win in his first Pro Fight.

Next up was the main event where Virgil Green (Fisticuffs) meet Jessie Isais of Chula Vista Ca. for the Northwest Jr. Welterweight title.

Virgil making the walk out to the ring

The first round started off a little slow for Virgil who wanted to feel out his opponent. Virgil knew coming into the fight that Isais was a tough fighter who said "I didn't travel all this way to lose" was his toughest test to date.

Although Virgil was able to stick his jab and move well, Isais was able to land a powerful left hook and a few straight right hands. I gave the first round to Isais.

Round two started off with Virgil using his speed and jab to keep Isais at bay and on the outside. Virgil seemed to settle down and was starting to dictate the fight. I thought it was a very technical round for both fighters and thought the round could go either way.

Virgil working his jab

Rounds three, four, five and six, were almost all the same. Virgil was able to get into his groove where he jab was stopping Isais from coming in with his power punches. Whenever Virgil stop jabbing, Isais was able to throw his power punches.

Virgil Green and Jessie Isais during one of their vicious exchanges.

Although a few of them did hit Virgil, most of Isais' punches were being evaded by Virgil's slick bobbing and weaving. By round six Isais' right eye was swelling shut from Virgil's constant jabbing.

Wally Jorgenson, Virgil Green (Northwest Jr. Welterweight Champ), Leonard Gabriel and Julie Ballou.

In the end the judges gave Virgil the win with a unanimous decision and making Virgil the new Northwest Jr. Welterweight Champion!

PAL/Fisticuffs weigh ins

Weigh-ins were held at Main Event Sports Bar located at 800 Main St, in Vancouver Wa. I'd like to take the time to thank, Mike and the boys for providing Main Event for the ring card girl contests, weigh ins and the after party place.

Virgil Green (139lbs) from Fisticuffs Gym vs Jessie Isais (140) from Chula Vista, Ca. will be going toe to toe for the Northwest Jr. Welterweight.

Danny Ruiz (143lbs) from Riverside Ca. vs Sammy "The Man" Perez (134lbs) from Fisticuffs will meet each other Saturday night. This will be a test for Sammy who will be making his boxing pro debut against Ruiz who will enter the ring with a undefeated pro record of 2-0.

PAL/Fisticuffs Fight Night

Come check out Fisticuffs' first show at home in Vancouver Wa. Three of our fighters will display their skills in front of Sugar Ray Leonard. First will be Jorell Raynosa starting off the night, then will be Sammy "The Man" Perez who will be making his pro debut against Danny Ruiz of Cali who hold and 2-0 record with 2 knockouts. Virgil "Black Mamba" Green will top off the nights card with a shot at the Northwest Jr. Welterweight Title against Jessis Isais of San Diego.

UFC 132, Thursday day before weigh ins

June 30, 2011

This morning started of with George doing two telephone interviews. After the telephone interviews George head down to the UFC offices where he did another interview for the UFC photo shoot that will be air on the website.

Once George was done with all his interviews it was back to the training room where we did our last work out. George did a 30min boxing workout with me, then a wrestling workout with Alex Bubb and lastly his jiu jitsu workout with Eric Jetton.
Team Sotiropoulos, Alex Bubb, Eric Jetton, George Sotiropoulos and Leonard Gabriel Jr.

After the workout we all headed to lunch. The walk was a little taxing for George since he is dropping weight and just got done working out but like always he took the time to stop sign autographs and pose for pictures for all the fans. It seemed that George stopped every 50 feet for the fans but always had a smile and a kind word for all of the fans.

We are now up in the room and will stay in the rest of the night since George will be cutting weight tomorrow, then off to the weigh ins. Be sure to check out the weigh ins on line as well as back here where I'll post backstage photos.

UFC 132, First day workouts

June 29, 2011

We arrived yesterday in Vegas everything went pretty normal. We got picked up at the airport by Chris one of the UFC driver's. At the airport we did meet another Washington fighter making his UFC debut, John Hougland and manager Jeff Bourgeois.

Once at the hotel, we headed down to the UFC offices where George did all his paper work then it was up to the room where we had an early night.

Today we were up at 7am. We headed down to Starbucks where I had a coffee and George had his oatmeal and a tea. After breakfast it was straight down to the training room. This morning George started off with his warm ups then we worked mitts. After our work out we headed to the arena where George did his sprints.



George sprinting and shadow boxing.

George has been working hard this camp and it really showed this morning. Even though he's starting to drop weight, his intensity, power and speed are at a high level. After working out for about 40min George went and did two interviews. One was for Yahoo!, Sports which can be seen on line and the other was for the UFC website.



George on how he feels.

From the interviews we headed to lunch and back up to the room where we spent most of the day. I ran down to the pool for a quick dip while George rested.

At about 6pm Alex Bubb, a friend and training parter of George, came into town and we headed back down to the training room where George drilled his wrestling. George's wrestling looks as crisp as his stand up. Seeing George look this good is getting me excited for this fight.


Although none of us want a loss for George, I think his last fight really made him a much better fighter. We were able to analyze certain holes in his game and hopefully plug them as well as sharpen up his already existing and dangerous arsenal.

UFC 132, MGM Grand Arena , July 2nd

Rafael Dos Anjos and George Sotiropoulos

George will meet the tough Rafael Dos Anjos July 2nd at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. The fight will be the first fight that will be air on Spike TV that night. Check back often to see daily videos and pictures from the day we arrive in Vegas until the morning we leave.

Time to Bleed, Fight Night

This morning started off with a early light workout at LA boxing-El Paso. Gabe and Molly both got a good sweat in with a quick 30min workout then it was back to the hotel where we had a good breakfast and I was able to go over the game plan with Gabe.

Gabe shadow boxing morning of the fight.

Molly working out fight morning.

The rest of the day was just spent resting until 430pm in our rooms. At 430pm the vans took us to the Marriott where the venue was. At first there was a little confusion as to what locker room we were going to be in. They first had Gabe in the blue corner and Molly in the red corner. Being that we were one camp it made no sense being on separate ends of the venue and different corners.

Once everything was straighten out we all ended up in the blue corner. Being in the blue corner was a treat and a curse at the same time. There was this fighter who we shared the locker with who will remain unnamed that was slightly off to say the least.

This guy did so many weird things it would take forever to list so here is just a few thing s I remember off the top of my head. First off he argued with the commissioner about when he should glove up, very bad move on his part. The he warmed up for 2hrs straight before his fight while continue to yell at the top of his lungs. He also made sure to tell everyone how they didn't know anything and how good he was. When he finally was called to the ring he decided to run around the ring at a full sprint twice like a complete psycho.

The commission then had to stop him and the crowd was laughing at him and not with him! Once the fight started, he continued to run around the ring bouncing off of the ropes like he was in WWE. Once the fight was over and he won......yes he WON!! He tried to jump on the ropes to raise his hands but actually bounced over the ropes and face planted on the floor. At this point I couldn't stop laughing and was actually getting a side pain then.... the guy gets back up and again started running around the ring again!

Okay enough about that guy lets get back to Gabe and Molly. Gabe was the second fight of the night and was called in to the ring. As we were introduced the crowd booed us being that Gabe was fighting a local fighter. The first round started off with Gabe throwing a double jab and right hand that dropped his opponent in the opening seconds of the round. His opponent Wesley Marquez who was a 4 time Regional Golden Glove Champion was a tough foe who got back up and finished the round.

The second round was a close back to back brawl that I gave Marquez that round. After that rounds three and four were clearly Gabe's rounds. Gabe had more combinations and cleaner shots. All in all it was a great action packed fight. At the end of the fight Gabe was covered in Marquez's blood from a possible broken nose that Marquez may have received in the opening seconds of the first round. The judges saw it the same way and gave Gabe a unanimous decision.

Aaron Navarro with Gabe after his win over Wesley Marquez.

Although we were booed coming in, once they interviewed Gabe and he said how well we were treated in El Paso and how he would love to fight here again the crowd cheered him as he exited the ring.

Next was Molly. Molly was up and looked very focused and ready to take home the belt. Molly had already faced her opponent Kita Watkins once before and stopped her in the third round but everyone knew this would be a different Kita Watkins and for a World Championship title.

This would end up being a very good 10 round fight. Both women came to fight. Molly clearly was the stronger of the two. Molly's right hand hurt Kita multiple times during the fight. Kita showed that she was a game opponent with flurries of combinations that she was able to score through out the bout, but it was Molly's power punching that was the theme of this title fight that proved to much in the end for Kita Watkins. The judges gave Molly the unanimous decision and the title of the new WIBF and GBU World Champion!!!!

The New WIBF and GBU World Champion Molly McConnell.

The Champion Molly McConnell and Ron Woodward.

I would also like to take this time to thank Aaron Navarro of Main Boxing Gym of Huston Texas who graciously worked as the third man (cut man) for both Molly and Gabe's fights. He did an awesome job and looking forward to working with Aaron again. Thanks Aaron!!Aaron Navarro, Leonard Gabriel, Molly McConnell WIBF and GBU Champion and Ron Woodward.Leonard Gabriel, Aaron Navarro, Gabriel Cruz and Ron Woodward.