There’s a lot of experience within coach Don Frye’s new Scorpions team, and their welterweight fighter, Gabe Rivas, brings his share of skills to the Arizonian table, having won fights by KO, TKO, and submissions.

It’s just gone 2.30 on Friday afternoon when Gabe speaks to knucklepit.com from his hometown of Eloy, which he says is halfway between Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona.  “I got done training, and I’m now at a restaurant, getting ready to eat my tuna sandwich. I’ll just step outside so we can talk,” says Rivas.

“Today, I hit the focus mitts, lifted weights, and I did a lot of swimming-pool exercises where I’m using my back and shoulders. I pretty much do all my weights on machines – no free weights so there’s less chance of injury. That way it won’t fall on you. (laughs)

When Gabe laughs, everybody laughs. He just has that lighthearted spirit about him, and it becomes apparent that there’s another male person with him who shares that happy nature and enjoys a good laugh.

Rivas says he’s through with training for today, and will not be heading back to the gym tonight. “No, sir. I’ll get up in the morning and run. I’ll run on Sunday morning also, and then I’ll start on Monday from 10 o’clock till 12 o’clock. After that,  I’ll take about an hour break and then go training again for another hour, before going back from six till eight that evening.”

For Gabe, nothing’s more important to his fight game than cardio, and a major element of his cardio preparation is running on a regular basis. “I try to run every day – it’s a must. I run about six or seven miles every day for fight endurance in case the fight goes past the first round. The endurance from the focus mitts and sparring is for the actual fighting techniques so you can fight. But the running conditioning is very important also. You can be the best fighter in the world, but if you ain’t got no air, you ain’t winning fights.”

Gabe, what was your first fighting system?

“I boxed all my life, since I was a little kid, but I’ve also been wrestling since I was in junior high school. Where I come from (Darango, Mexico), that’s what you do – you hang in the streets and do nothing, or you join the YMCA and box.

“So that’s what I did – I started boxing. Then I moved to Phoenix when I was little and an old man took me in: He didn’t let me pay any money because I was poor and living on the streets. He took me in and I boxed for him for years.”

Can you tell us the story of how you got into MMA competition, please?

“Well, it seemed like the right thing when you fight all your life – you’re fighting here, you’re fighting there… you go to bars and you fight, so… That’s pretty much what you do. Then my wife said, ‘Hey, you fight so much: Why don’t you do something that’s a sport?’ So we found a tough-man competition that I was going to get into, but that never came through. Then I found out about caged fighting, and we sat down and said, ‘Okay, let’s try this.’

“My wife was my first trainer – she trained me for my first four fights: She put the gloves on, got on top of me, and beat the shit out of me. All I could do was defend, so I was pretty good at defending and wouldn’t get hit.”

Gabe also utilized his eldest son, Bear, and taught him to hold the mitts for him. Both Bear and Gabe’s other son, Joseph, have done a lot of jiu jitsu, so he used their bodies to roll around. “It was only for fun at first, but I thought, ‘Man, this is great; I love this.’ I got more into the sport and I trained with people who could teach me more about it.

“The first guy I fought, I hit him with two uppercuts and I knocked him out. Then he woke up and I hit him again and he arm-barred me. I thought, ‘Oh, man – what the heck was that?’ So I ended up hiring that guy to teach me jiu jitsu. His name is Carlos Orteda and he’s a real technician.

“You have to find guys who can train you, and I met this other guy – his name’s Brent Rankin, and he just took me under his wing. He’s like my dad and he took me back to old-style boxing. And with Carlos training me on the ground and Brent training me on stand-up, we just stayed together for five or six years.

“I sparred with Brent every day until my power got too much, so he sent me to train with Rocco (Depaolo) in Tucson, and he’s my trainer now. He coaches me in the pool, he takes me for the weightlifting, my cardio, he tells me what to eat…”

Can you spell his last name for me, please, Gabe?

“Yes it’s ‘D’…‘e’…’p’…” (there’s an echo going on in the background)

Gabe Rivas of the Scorpions is instructed by Coach Don Frye in Rivas' welterweight bout against Antonio McKee of the Sabres at the International Fight League event 
in Houston on Feb. 2.

Gabe, who is that with you?

“It’s Rocco with me.” (much laughter at both ends of the phone)

So the spelling should be right, then.

“It should be.”

Do you still work as a diesel mechanic, or are you a full-time athlete now?

“I’m a full-time athlete now: It takes too much out of me. Putting on two- and three-hundred-pound tires, and then coming out and trying to train as hard as I can – it just takes too much out of me. Don Frye told me it would be better for me to quit my job, so I did.”

How did you come to be in the Scorpions?

“I came down to Tucson because Rocco was training Don Frye, and at the same time I was training with Rocco. I didn’t even know anything about the team, but during this period Don was getting ready to fight in Japan, and I was asked to jump in and spar with him. It was an honor for me because I’d seen Don fight all the time, so to get in there and throw down with him was good. He liked what he saw and asked me if I’d like to be on the team. Who wouldn’t? You’d have to be a fool not to take that offer.”

Do you train with the other Scorpions (Ed West, Dwayne Compton, Mike Whitehead, Chad Griggs)?

“Yes, I train with the Scorpions, but at the same time I train with Carlos Ortega and Rocco Depaolo, as well as with Don Frye who is my coach and mentor.”

How does Don Frye help with your preparation?

“He’s a legend, man: What can you say about the guy? You try to mimic his fight game and find out what he knows, pick at his brain and try to get everything out of him that you possibly can to better your game. But he’s also a hard head – he’s one of those guys who you have to prove yourself to for him to open up. But at the same time you like to have somebody who pushes you hard and tells you how it is. You then start thinking what you are and what you ain’t.”

What do you know about Claude Patrick?

“Who?”

Claude Patrick. You’re fighting him on April 17, aren’t you?

“Yes, sir. He’s the 170-pounder, isn’t he? Isn’t he the guy who hurt his knee?”

Oh, is he injured?

“I think so. I think I’m fighting the alternate.”

What are your main weapons in a fight?

“I’m a blue belt in jiu jitsu, but I think my main weapons are my hands. When you strike people you get a good fight, but there aren’t a lot of guys who will stand with me. These days, guys are scared of getting hit and they want to take you down straight away. They want to take you down and hold you down: Nobody wants to man-up any more. They’re too scared. You hit them a couple of times in the jaw and they want to go to the ground and hold you there.

“I’d rather keep it standing and show my skills on top. I’ve knocked out a lot of guys and fought a lot of top-contender boxers and kickboxers… I think I’m pretty good wherever it goes – I’m well rounded.”

Gabe, is there anything you’d like to add?

“You have to be smart in all the aspects of the sport: You have to have ground, stand-up, knees, everything…

“If you can put it in there, what I’d really like to say is that I’ve come from the street with no father, and I’d like to dedicate a lot of what I do to the young kids out there. And I’d like to tell the parents out there to find something for the kids to do – whether it be soccer, football, baseball – anything at all to help get these kids off the streets and involved in something. It doesn’t have to be MMA, but try finding something for the kids to get into.

“I’d like to put the word out there that I like to fight for the kids that are being molested or abused, and tell them to look to somebody for help. Tell your brothers, sisters or somebody to get help, and don’t be scared. Cause I’m from the streets and I grew up without a father – it was hard at times, but there’s always hope out there.”

Sponsors?

“No, sir, I’m a loner, man.”

Antonio McKee welterweight fighter for the Sabres in the blue shorts during his fight against Gabe Rivas of the Scorpions at the International Fight League event at the Reliant Arena on February 2, 2007 in Houston, Texas.