Jul-14-2008

A Different Kind of Summer School is in Session for James Giboo

By Thomas Gerbasi

A native of Franklinville, New York who is now part of the Iowa mixed martial arts renaissance that includes Josh Neer, Jeremy Stephens, and training partner Kevin Burns, Des Moines’ James Giboo chuckles when you ask if it’s something in the water that’s producing an ever-growing number of UFC fighters.

“We don’t have a lot of other stuff to do, so we train,” said Giboo, who makes his UFC debut this Saturday night at The Palms in Las Vegas against Brad Blackburn. “We don’t have a lot of distractions that other people do, so we fight to stay competitive.”

Fair enough. But if you’re wondering why he laughed before saying there wasn’t a lot to do in Des Moines, he probably wasn’t referring to himself, because the 30-year old has more than enough on his plate to keep him occupied outside of fighting.

“My day is constantly on the go,” said Giboo of his usual routine. “Usually during school I have to get up at 4:30am to get my first workout in. I shower, go teach class all day and then I work out again. I also have to make time for my family – be a husband, be a father – so it’s pretty crazy.”

A biology teacher for ninth and tenth graders, as well as an assistant wrestling and baseball coach at East High School in Des Moines, Giboo’s days are packed without even bringing up family and training considerations. Add in getting ready for the biggest fight of his life, and it could stress out most people. Not him though.

“Now that I’m getting my shot, all the hard work is paying off,” said Giboo, who saw Burns get a late notice call to take on Roan Carneiro at UFC 85 in June and take full advantage of it. But despite an 11-2 record in which he ended all his wins by submission or TKO (including three via tapout due to strikes), he didn’t get his call to the Octagon.

“I was pretty depressed because I had been working really hard and it was always my goal to get there,” said Giboo. Then the call came – he was going to be fighting in the UFC on July 19th.

“I thought my manager (Chad Bergmeier) was joking,” he said, but it was no joke, and neither is the hard-hitting Blackburn, a former IFL fighter who owns wins over UFC vets Chris Wilson and Jay Hieron. Giboo admits that most fans will see him as the underdog entering the bout.

“He (Blackburn) has fought some really big name fighters, so I would definitely assume that I’m gonna be the underdog, just because a lot of people haven’t seen me as much,” he said. “I have fought in Vegas before in the IFO, but it’s nowhere near the exposure the guys in the IFL got.”

Yet given both fighters’ tendency to go for broke in search of victory, this may end up being one of the best fights of the night.

“He hits really hard and is really athletic, and I’m obviously gonna try to do what I do – I like to end fights as soon as possible - so with us both trying to finish, I think it will definitely be exciting.”

As an added bonus, not only has Giboo been able to train for this fight full-time due to school being out for the summer, Burns is also preparing for his UFC bout on the same night, against Anthony Johnson.

“Kevin is like a brother to me,” said Giboo. “We push each other every single day. When he’s having a bad day, I’m there for him; when I’m having a bad day, he’s there for me. We don’t come from a big gym like a lot of these guys, so it’s basically the two of us, and we push each other every day. The guys we work out with, they can’t believe the hard work that we put in just trying to reach our goals. They’re always telling us that we’re crazy, that our work ethic is insane, but we just push through it and do the best we can.”

But what are the odds that two fighters from the same small school would make their UFC debuts within a month and a half of each other?

“It’s unbelievable, especially if you saw how small our school is,” said Giboo. “To have two guys in the UFC is absolutely amazing.”

And like Burns before him, Giboo is planning on making an impression on fight fans in his debut, one that guarantees that we’ll be seeing plenty of him in the coming years.

“I hope the fans see that I’m exciting,” he said. “I always hope to finish fights – I’m not a lay and pray guy. And I hope that they see the hard work that me and Kevin put in and that you don’t necessarily have to be from a big school to be successful in this game.”