Isaac De La Paz poses with ONE Featherweight Kickboxing World Champion Superbon Banchamek. Photo by Alex Dominguez

DOWNEY - There is another champion in Downey, and his name is Isaac De La Paz.

De La Paz, 20, is still relatively new into the world of mixed martial arts, where he fights in the 130 weight class. An athlete during his time at Downey High School, he wanted to find something to keep himself active after graduating in 2019.

“I first played Volleyball at Downey High School. I’ve always been in sports; soccer, football, every sport you could think of,” said De La Paz. “After high school, I graduated, I wanted to do some type of sport, try to keep myself moving.”

“I did boxing for a little bit over in South Gate. I wanted to do some type of martial art, so I came to [King Cobra Mixed Martial Arts].”

De La Paz enjoyed training, however admitted that he did not take it too seriously at first.

“I wouldn’t come every day; it’d just be to keep me active,” said Paz. “I always expressed to Coach [Isaias Nambo] that I wanted to compete in the future.”

Competing meant that De La Paz would start having to come in every night to train. Unfortunately, that’s when the pandemic set in.

Lockdown was not enough to stop De La Paz, however.

“At home, I have a heavy bag,” said De La Paz. “I’d train at home. I’d hit the bag, stuff like that. I thought to myself, ‘Man, I really enjoy doing this type of stuff.’”

“I knew that once quarantine ended, I really wanted to compete.”

As quarantine ended and De La Paz was able to return to the gym, the intensity of his training amplified.

“It has to do more with the way of thinking,” said De La Paz. “I watch the UFC fights; it’s pretty crazy to think that these guys are going head-to-head, and they’re trying to kill each other basically, in the ring.”

“When I’m training, I like to think that I’m training to keep myself safe; like we’re going to go into an arena, like gladiator type stuff.”

His first competition would be at the Arizona United States Muay Thai Open, where he would face and defeat three opponents before heading to the championship round the following day.

Unfortunately, a tough third fight left De La Paz’s leg injured.

“Since I had three fights that day and I used my leg kicks a lot that third fight, my leg was like a balloon. It was crazy swollen,” said De La Paz.

“His injury was real bad,” added Nambo. “We were taping up his leg, just trying to do whatever we can.”

“…He was injured, so he wasn’t able to put weight on it. He’s still new to the game, so he wasn’t able to switch to southpaw or anything like that.”

Unfortunately, De La Paz and his softened-up leg were unable to take away the victory that day. Still, he says he learned a lot from the fight.

“It taught me a lot about having heart as well, because I really wanted to win that gold belt; I wanted to come in first no matter what injury I had,” said De La Paz. “I learned that I needed to have a lot more cardio, a lot more intensity, and to stop waiting because in this fight, you always have to be first, putting pressure on your opponent.”

De La Paz was sidelined for a few weeks while his leg healed. Once he was ready to fight once more, there was more work to be done.

“I recovered, came back, started training with more intensity,” said De La Paz. “I had the IFS (International Fight Showdown) fight.”

The IFS fight would offer a new, intimidating challenge for De La Paz: the removal of shin guards and head protection.

“It’s like a big jump for me,” said De La Paz. “I went from no elbows, having head gear, shin guards to elbows, no shin guards, no head gear. I was really nervous for that one.”

De La Paz says though that his nerves tend to go away once he steps into the ring, and it certainly showed at IFS.

He walked away victorious, and more importantly, already in line for a title shot.

At 4-1, its not necessarily common to be already fighting for a title.

It’s an accomplishment Nambo credits to the quality of opponents.

“Everybody always tries to safeguard their fighters, which is fine,” said Nambo. “But in my opinion, if you don’t fight the best, you’re not the best…I believe in fighting the best to be the best. A true champion is made.”

De La Paz’s opponent would not be a pushover, sporting years more experience than De La Paz and a 9-4 record.

There would be some significant stumble blocks on the way, too.

De La Paz would injure himself a month and a half before the fight.

“we’re training hard, twice a day, putting in extra hours after practice, and during one of my sparrings I dislocated my arm,” said De La Paz.

“That’s an ‘Oh crap’ moment; that is a huge weapon,” said Nambo. “That was really challenging. Here, especially for our fighting style and what we train for, it’s called the ‘Art of Eight Limbs,’ which is Muay Thai Kick Boxing.”

“Just because one is shut down, don’t mean the others don’t work.”

While his arm healed, De La Paz and Nambo would hone in on strengthening De La Paz’s kicks, knees, elbows, and his left arm.

“It worked really good,” said De La Paz. “My kicks were way stronger; I was putting people out with just kicks and the liver shot.”

Then, De La Paz would dislocate his arm again while swimming. This time, the fight was just over a week out.

“All these thoughts are going through my head: if I’m going to be ready, if my arm pops out and ruin my future,” said De La Paz. “It’s not good to have those thoughts going into a title shot fight; you want to be totally mentally prepared, physically prepared, thinking that you’re going to win this fight no matter what.”

Nambo gave De La Paz the option to pull out of the fight.

“At first, he kind of shook his head…but then something clicked in and he was like, ‘Nah, let’s do it,’” said Nambo.

The fight would be contested for two belts: The IKF and IFS Southern California Lightweight Title.

De La Paz described the fight as “five rounds of just war.”

De La Paz takes instruction from Petchanong Banchamek. Photo by Alex Dominguez

“It was one of the most intense fights; constant elbows, constant knees, constant punches, and the guy didn’t back down either,” said De La Paz. “It was back and forth, just boom, boom, clashing. The guy was really good.”

De La Paz would take the fight in a split decision.

“I thought like I did good. I honestly felt like I had won the fight. I wasn’t really worried, I was just waiting for my belt,” said De La Paz. “My whole family came there. There were about 40 people there to support me, I could see them in the crowd.”

“I felt happy. The ring felt like it was my home, basically…I came with the win. I got my two belts – the IFK one and the IFS – and hard work pays off.”

De La Paz also credits his success to Coach Nambo, Coach Adrian “Footsie” Gonzalez, and Prodigy Plumbing, who has been a major sponsor of King Cobra MMA.

As the saying goes, it’s easier to win a title than it is to keep a title. De La Paz will put that to the test in March against the very same opponent he defeated to win the belts.

“Since it was a split [decision] he does have the right to contest and go right after it again,” said Nambo.

While De La Paz already says that he’s ready, he will have the added benefit of training time with reigning ONE Featherweight Kickboxing World Champion Superbon Banchamek, who held a clinic at King Cobra.

“Just being able to get some training from him and being face to face is super sick,” said De La Paz.

Nambo said that having someone like Banchamek at the gym is “extremely beneficial” to De La Paz and the rest of his students.

“He’s the number one kickboxing world champ in the world,” said Nambo. “Whatever tidbits and tactics you can learn from him, it’s gonna help your game immensely.”

Isaac De La Paz is Muay Thai champion