Knock out king Gabel hits the cages

Matt Gabel, of Le Mars, who wrestled in high school at LCS and in college, is taking his lighting-quick power moves to another arena: cage fighting. His record: 7-0. He took out one opponent in 12 seconds. (Photo contributed) [Click to enlarge]

When Matt Gabel stepped into the cage for his first official fight last December, his stomach was full of butterflies.

But the 6-foot, 200-pound muscle man had little to worry about.

In less than a minute, his opponent was on the ground.

Now, with a 7-0 record, the Le Mars fighter is heading back to the ring Saturday in Sioux City, and this time for a championship.

Gabel, a 2004 Le Mars Community School graduate, has been a wrestler since he was five years old.

He was in the ring throughout his elementary, high school and college career.

But cage fighting is a whole new ball game, he said.

"In wrestling, you don't have someone ready to punch you in the face, kick you in the face," he said.

Before he gets in the cage, Gabel said his emotions and thoughts run a mile a minute.

"I'm nervous but extremely pumped up, especially when I hear the crowd," he said. "I visualize the fight, what's going to happen and what my first move will be."

Once the referee shouts "Fight!" Gabel gets to work with speed and ferocity that has earned him names like "Beast" and "Jumper Cable Gabel."

"It's strategy and technical work," he said. "I like to set the pace. Fast. Ruthless. Relentless. I keep the pressure on."

That's something that goes back to Gabel's wrestling days.

"It's how we coach wrestling to little kids on up," Gabel's trainer Darin Dunn, of Le Mars, explained. "We tell them, 'You set the tempo, instead of your opponents.'"

Gabel agreed.

"I don't like to give my opponents reaction time," he said. "I just attack."

That's probably how he knocked out six of his seven opponents even before the first 4-minute period was over -- and one in 12 seconds.

"It's a lot different than on TV," Dunn said. "On TV, you don't hear the fist hitting the face, the leg kicking the body. In person, you hear everything."

Admittedly, cage fighting a rough sport.

Some of the moves -- from mixed martial arts like jujitsu -- are called "submission" moves because they force the opponent to either give up or face a hyperextended elbow or broken arm.

And the list of cage fighting rules is intimidating.

Outlawed moves that include "eye gouging of any kind" and "kicking to the kidney to the heel" hint at a raw intensity in the ring.

"Pretty much everything goes," Gabel said. "There's blood in every match."

A fighter wins if his opponent gets knocked out, stops fighting back, taps out, or -- when time runs out -- has less points than he does.

"Judges determine the points, the decision goes to the judges," Gabel said. "But no fighter wants that."

At the end of a fight, the opponents shake hands -- and even hug, Dunn said.

"It's the respect," he said. "They each know how much training the other did."

Gabel first decided to try his hand at cage fighting after college.

"I had to get back in the action somehow. I needed something to train for," he said.

That "something" came along when Dunn, now owner of Raise the Bar Fitness in Le Mars, called Gabel up out of the blue.

Dunn, who had built a workout facility in his garage, invited Gabel to work out there.

A friend from the wrestling circuit started to pique Dunn's interest in cage wrestling, and after a few months, Dunn turned to Gabel and said, "We need to get you in the cage."

"I saw his athleticism in wrestling, and that was hand-in-hand with his strength and willingness to be coached and pushed," Dunn said.

He remembered hearing stories about Gabel and his fellow wrestlers at LCS from Coach Tom Smalley.

"It stood out to me that he said, 'They'd run through a brick wall for you,'" Dunn said. "Any time a coach or trainer can get a hold of a guy like that, he's going to go a long ways."

And Gabel sure has potential.

He plans to go pro after the Dec. 5 fight at Lewis Bowl in Sioux City.

That means tougher competition, longer fights and better prizes.

In title fight Saturday, with a championship belt as a prize, Gabel will endure up to five rounds, three minutes each.

He's already got fans, too. People can buy T-shirts that say "Official Matt Gabel Superfan Shirt" and have the Superman logo emblazoned with a giant "G."

But it's not all guts and glory.

Cage fighting takes a lot of time outside the cage.

Right now, Gabel puts in about three hours a day for training. He lifts weights, runs or does other cardio workouts, grapples, practices submission wrestling, and works on sparring or punching and kicking weighted bags.

"With all the practices, I know what it feels like when someone tries an arm bar or a choke hold on me," he said.

Dunn said he doesn't get nervous when Gabel steps into the cage.

"I know he's prepared," he said.

Others from Le Mars are joining Gabel on the cage fighting scene. His brother, Jeremy, is making his debut Saturday in Sioux City.

Still more are joining Dunn's mixed martial arts group, working on fitness and learning a combination of wrestling, jujitsu and boxing.

"I know a lot of people frown upon the concept of a fight, but to us, with the knowledge of the training that goes into getting in the cage, it's a respectable sport," Dunn said. "Nothing can be compared to what it takes to be prepared for cage fighting."

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