The Demo Site

By Chris Herrera


Jorge Valdez is a young upcoming mixed martial artist competing in the 155 pound division.Currently sporting a record of 2 wins and 0 losses he faces fellow undefeated Jimmy Guytonon November 28 at the Clash of the Gladiators event. I recently spoke with Jorge about how he got into MMA and a variety of subjects pertaining to his career in the following interview.





Chris - How's training going for this fight?

Jorge Valdez - Trainings going really good.

Chris - How often do you train?

JV - I train 4 or 5 times a week.

Chris - Do you work or train full time or do you do it when you have time between work?

JV - I do it when I have time, I work.

Chris - Is it hard to find time to train and maintain a job amongst everything?

JV - It is, especially the way the economy is now. I used to work mornings, now I'm working graveyard and it's even harder than before.

Chris - How long did it take to get adjusted physically to working graveyard and training?

JV - It takes awhile but when you're persistent enough for what you really wanna do you have to adapt within like 2 to 3 weeks at the most.

Chris - You're record is 2 and 0, how long have you been fighting for?

JV - My first fight was last year and I barely got my license so this will be my second fight.

Chris - What made you decide to start fighting?

JV - Basically I didn't want to get punked anymore.

Chris - Did you start training and then decided to fight?

JV - I started training for the wrong purposes and as soon as I started training and getting everything right I decided to make it a career.

Chris - That's pretty interesting, would you mind getting into that, was it the neighborhood?

JV - It was just the neighborhood, either you did something about it or get your ass kicked.

Chris - I've noticed there seems to be alot more hispanic fighters coming up in the lower weight divisions, being hispanic yourself what are your thoughts on that?

JV - I think that's great, more people to be represented and more people realize that hispanics can do more than work.

Chris - Are you a fan of other sports or are you just into MMA?

JV - I don't really like other sports, everybody in my family likes boxing and basketball and soccer but I never got into it. To me everythings MMA.

Chris - How did fighting come about?

JV - I used to breakdance with my friends and one of my friends got into a fight one day and he was introduced to jiu jitsu and we stopped breaking and he started getting into jiu jitsu,first of all I started boxing and my friend told me jiu jitsus way better thing than boxing and as soon as I started doing jiu jitsu it opened up everything so I quit boxing and left it for jiu jitsu and started getting good at it and thought why not train boxing, muay thai and have everything ready.

Chris - How long did you box for?

JV - I did it for about 6, 7 months.

Chris - And how long have you been doing jiu jitsu?

JV - I've been doing it for 2 and a half years.

Chris - Do you think now that you're fighting it's good that you started in boxing because you learn some of the fundamentals.

JV - Yea, boxing was the first thing to open it up for me because it had to do with fighting but
now you got the ground game which is alot better.

Chris - What is it you enjoy more about jiu jitsu than boxing?

JV - In jiu jitsu if you don't want to hurt somebody you can just hold them down and have them ready to submit like, do you give up or you're gonna get your arm broken. Jiu jitsus more of how
you control your opponent and you can break arms really fast.

Chris - When you first started did you have trouble adjusting to it?

JV - I really didn't have trouble adjusting to it because of the breakdancing I had the flexibility
and the natural strength from it and cordination from my body so it came pretty easy to me.

Chris - So are we ever gonna see you bust out any breakdancing moves before or after a fight?

JV - I always do after a fight or any jiu jitsu tournament I go to I always do a little thing to let
people know breakdancings still alive.

Chris - What are your goals either short term or long term in fighting?

JV - Basically my goal is to make it to the UFC.

Chris - How long do you think if you really dedicate yourself it will take you to make it there?

JV - Honestly in my perspective, if I go strong for 2 years I know I can make it in 2 to 3 years.

Chris - How do your family and friends feel about you fighting?

JV - All my friends and family are very supportive, my Mom and my girl they like that I do it but they don't want to see their loved one getting hurt. They don't like it but they're accepting of it, they see that I enjoy and they have no choice but to like it too.

Chris - Do you have any favorite fighters or any fighters you see and would like to adapt your
style to be like?

JV - To me the person I try to fight like and push myself to his limit is Georges St. Pierre. I like his determination, his heart, everything that's good about him, I just try and follow his steps, who wouldn't he's world champion so he must be doing something right.

Chris - All right, well I want to thank you for your time and good luck on your fight.

JV - Thanks alot.


The card will be a split event, half boxing and half mixed martial arts, providing entertainment for all fans of combat sports. Steve anticipates his debut as promoter and had his father be the matchmaker for the event, paying tribute to the man he sees as responsible for all of his achievements. Fighting on the boxing side of the card will be undefeated (15-0 10KOs) Michael ‘Lil Warrior” Franco who will take on veteran Nikki Bentz (36-7 29KOs) in an eight round bantamweight match up. On the MMA side of the card, Jorge Valdez will try to maintain his unbeaten status, fighting Noah Tillis.

Champion Promotions looks forward to putting on many events in the future, including one fight card a month beginning in February 2010. For tickets or more information on the event, contact Champion Promotions at: (760)-835-3234 or visit: www.spotlight29.com