Diego Garijo, a well-known San Diego Jiu Jitsu and MMA fighter, won big in his first fight on the Bellator Fighting Championships 8 on June 5th 2009.

Garijo represented The Arena (http://www.TheArenaMMA.com), a MMA gym in San Diego known for the strength of its MMA team and its outstanding training. He also represented San Diego’s The University of Jiu Jitsu, owned by the famous Jiu Jitsu World Champions Saulo and Xande Ribeiro.

Garijo shocked the crowd with his come-from-behind win, stopping opponent Saad Awad in 4:45 of the 1st round by rear naked choke. Garijo, known as “El Nino” like other Latino MMA fighter Gilbert Melendez, came into the fight with a 3-1 record, having won his first three fights in a row, but then losing by TKO in his last fight in 2007.

After taking a 2 year layoff to concentrate on his Jiu Jitsu game under the tutelage of Jiu Jitsu masters Saulo and Xande Ribeiro, Garijo returned to training MMA at The Arena, a well-known MMA gym in San Diego. The Arena houses one of the most powerful MMA teams in the U.S., with fighters on their roster including the UFC’s Diego “Nightmare” Sanchez and the WEC’s Rani Yahya.

Garijo returned to the cage to face Saad “Assassin” Awad, who was the heavily favored fighter. Awad came into the fight with a 7-2 record, having fought 5 more times than Garijo over the last 2 years. Initially, the fight looked bad for Garijo when Awad, the San Bernadino favorite, opened a bad cut over Garijo’s eye. But Garijo fought through and countered with knees, then went for a double leg takedown and then guillotine. Awad escaped the guillotine and took Garijo’s back. Garijo once again countered and put Awad in a rear naked choke, ending the fight with an incredible comeback in the 1st round to the screams of an incredulous crowd.

The fight was a huge win for Garijo, who has left his regular job to concentrate full-time on his MMA career. Garijo, managed by Jeff Clark of veteran MMA management company NCFC (http://www.NCFC.tv), trained extremely hard for his Bellator debut and his work clearly paid off.

It was also one more testament for The Arena’s MMA Team, with 5 previous wins by its fighters in the last two months, including wins by Rani Yahya, Xande Ribeiro, Fabricio “Morango” Camoes, “Notorious” Rick Slaton and Joe “Hybrid” Duarte.

About The Arena – The San Diego MMA Gym and Fight Team

The Arena is a MMA gym in San Diego that trains professional fighters as well as recreational athletes who want to train like fighters. The Arena offers training in Boxing, MMA, Muay Thai, No Gi Jiu Jitsu and Wrestling. For more info on The Arena, go to http://www.TheArenaMMA.com

About the University of Jiu Jitsu – San Diego California

The University of Jiu Jitsu in San Diego California is owned by multiple time Jiu Jitsu World Champions Saulo and Xande Ribeiro. It is one of the Premier Jiu Jitsu schools in the world. The Ribeiro brothers teach full-time in their San Diego Jiu Jitsu academy, alongside their famed mentor Royler Gracie. For more info on the University of Jiu Jitsu, go to http://www.UNIJJ.com

San Diego, California June 4th, 2009 — The Arena

MMA in San Diego is continuing its rapid explosion, with another major MMA event being held in San Diego after the WEC 38 event at the San Diego Sports Arena on Jan 25th 2009. The 2nd San Diego MMA event, known as War Gods, was held at Viejas Casino May 30th, 2009. As usual, one MMA gym in San Diego, known simply as The Arena (http://www.thearenamma.com), continued to dominate, with both of the fighters The Arena had on the War Gods card winning in spectacular fashion in the 1st round of their respective fights.

The Arena entered two San Diego favorites, “Notorious” Rick Slaton and Joe “Hybrid” Duarte. Slaton, an experienced brawler with fights against notable UFC fighters such as Shane Carwin, and Duarte, an upcoming young fighter featured on The Ultimate Fighter Show in 2008, both impressed the crowd with their quick wins.

Rick Slaton, entering his fight with a 9-1-1 record, is a well-known local figure in the San Diego MMA world, having been involved in it for over a decade. Although known for his “Art of Face Punching” and issuing what Slaton calls “Free Pain”, he surprised the crowd by coming out quickly with two rapid leg kicks against MMA Fighter / Professional Boxer Salah Zabian, who was quickly overwhelmed. Slaton rapidly administered his particular brand of Free Pain to Zabian, TKO’ing him in 56 seconds of the 1st round.

Joe Duarte is also an extremely popular San Diego figure and is considered a rising young gun in the MMA world. Although only coming into the fight with a 4-1 record versus his opponent, MMA vet David Gardner with 28 Pro MMA fights to his credit, Duarte scored an impressive victory in 2:41 of the 1st round. Gardner proved a tough and game opponent for the initial two minutes. However, Duarte was simply too much for Gardner, overwhelming and outgunning him with punches until the fight was called.

The Arena has an impressive roster of Professional MMA fighters on its team and is on a winning streak, with The Arena Team fighters Rani Yahya winning in WEC 40 on April 5th, Xande Ribeiro winning in the Japanese event Sengoku on May 2nd and Fabricio “Morango” Camoes winning in Strikeforce on 5/15/2009.

Other upcoming fights for the team include Diego Garijo in Bellator on June 5th and Diego Sanchez in the UFC on June 20th.

About The Arena – The MMA Training Gym in San Diego California

The Arena is a San Diego MMA school and fighter training gym that focuses on training professional fighters as well as recreational athletes who want to train like fighters. The Arena offers high-level training in Boxing, MMA, Muay Thai, No Gi Jiu Jitsu and Wrestling.

For more information on The Arena, call 619-222-5554, go to http://www.TheArenaMMA.com. You can also follow their tweets at http://www.Twitter.com/TheArenaMMA. For more info on Rick Slaton, go to http://www.MySpace.com/Rick_Slaton. For more info on Joe Duarte, go to http://www.MySpace.com/JoeDuarte.