Fort Bragg native holds multiple amateur welterweight kickboxing titles
Twenty-fiveyear-old Robbinson Galvez upheld his amateur national welterweight kickboxing title on January 31 by defeating Joey Siplyak (23-10), a six-time national champion. This win, along with his 2021 International Kickboxing Federation (IKF) amateur welterweight title, solidifies his place as a serious competitor in the sport. Galvez is a graduate of Fort Bragg High School and trained in Muay Thai. He is currently holding a 9-5 winning streak and plans to transition to Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) later this year before making his pro debut next winter.
Galvez has been kickboxing competitively for five years representing PHAS3 Training Center in Santa Rosa. As a Muay Thai fighter, his record is 15-5 with three knockouts. He holds six titles, one of which he recently defended, which brought him two pro offers. However, he has chosen to bide his time for now and focus on his new five-year plan. Galvez said, “I’m taking my time because you really only get to go pro one time. Once you’re a pro, your track record is permanent.” Next month, his plan will take him to Thailand for more intense training at Fairtex, a premier Muay Thai and MMA school.
Galvez is so committed to his plan that he will not be competing at the World Games for a spot on the upcoming Olympic team and has dedicated himself to building a pro career in martial arts. He believes that the necessity of continued training, networking, obtaining more sponsors, and fighting higher caliber opponents best suits his goals. After three months in Thailand, he will return to the United States and finish the year fighting for PHAS3 Training Center. In 2023, he will return to Thailand to train and fight for Fairtex as much as possible. “If you’re famous in Thailand for Muay Thai, you’re famous anywhere. I could
be one of the first fighters to come out of there to the UFC,” he said.
Galvez’s story is more than one of boundless physical determination. As a sixteen-year-old in Fort Bragg with a 1-3 beginning record for Jordan Studio, he stubbornly believed he would be a known fighter someday. His first fight put him up against a 26-year-old outside his weight class and far beyond his skill level. However, that introduction to fighting led to a win in his second fight. A third and fourth loss did not break his dream of success.
Intelligence, skill, patience, the ideal coach, and a master life plan led him in that direction. No longer a teenager “desperate to get a fight,” to prove himself, he took his coach Ben Brown’s advice “to slow down, be patient, work on technique and the basics, and to learn how to be an effective fighter. “I was an inefficient fighter before that. Now I’m doing a lot better,” Galvez recalled.
Galvez firmly believes that realistic self-evaluation and commitment to specific, tangible goals are the keys to a profitable pro career in MMA. “You need to be brutally honest and access your skills. Give yourself time to make it happen. Find the right coach and go into it 100 percent if you’re any good. You need to have trackable goals, or else time goes by,” he advises. Galvez’s first fiveyear plan set a goal to have a champion fight within his first year. Fourteen months into training with a 3-0 record, he fought for a Northern California title. He didn’t win, but his plan was on target.
Galvez has had 23 fights in 5 years and has learned what matters most on the road to MMA prizefighting. He emphasized the importance of finding a healthy gym environment. “The people around you are very important because they drive you and motivate you. They also get you to where you need to be. You need a coach who cares about you,” he said. He describes the PHAS3 Training Center as “loving and caring, a place where “you don’t have to show a chip on your shoulder to be taken seriously.” Galvez is recovering from his recent fight and also stressed that you “have to care of your body. Make sure your recovery is right.”
Galvez points to his coach Ben Brown as his most important guiding influence. However, he fondly recalls his earlier time at Fort Bragg’s Jordan Studio working with Jimmy Stipe, Jr., who drove him to his first fights. Galvez graduated from high school and moved on with his life, attending school in Sacramento. Visualizing the years ahead, he decided his heart and future were in pro-fighting. Remembering the advice he had been given, he scoured every “hole in the wall gym” in Sonoma County to begin his career. He tried many schools of martial arts, including boxing. Chance brought him to PHAS3 Training Center, where Coach Ben Brown took him seriously and promised, “You get me a Muay Thai title, and we’ll talk about MMA.”
Galvez has done just that. From his perspective, three fights have brought him to the point of going pro. Last July, after three fights in two days for the IKF Classic Belt, he defeated a formidable opponent who had a UFC training coach. “I knocked
him out in the first round in the first sixty seconds with a knee to the sternum,” he recalled. In December, he competed for the IKF Northern California title matched against a fighter he had long looked up to. “He didn’t have an answer to anything I was doing,” Galvez remembered. “I was evasive, was never hit, and won unanimously on all cards.” As the underdog, Galvez’s win announced to the amateur kickboxing community that he was a serious contender.
His most recent win last month of the national amateur welterweight champion is his high mark to date. “The experience as a whole was the most moving I’ve ever had,” Galvez said. “When I walked into the ring, I could hear the crowd cheering my name,” Galvez said. After suffering a bloody cut on his forehead in the second round, he took strength from the crowd’s approval. He wanted to signal that he was among the best and kept up the pressure on his opponent to win the title. Galvez still enjoys that moment. “I’m number one. There’s no disputing that now. I cannot stop smiling, to be honest with you,” he added.
Galvez knows that a pro career in MMA is short, and a life plan beyond competition will be necessary. He is building his brand, networking, marketing, and maintaining a website. However, he hasn’t neglected plotting a life after sports. He has been documenting his career in journals and hopes to write a book someday. Brand deals, podcasts, and commercials are also part of his goals. He plans to establish a second career in motivational speaking. In the meantime, Galvez is rightfully enjoying the afterglow of his latest title. “That fight,” he said, “showed people I am a high caliber fighter, not just a local, regional star. I’m somebody to be reckoned with, not someone to take lightly anymore.”