Gabe Shupe

Hello, my name is Gabe Shupe and I am the Head Coach here at Dalton Combatives.  I am also a full-time Firefighter with the City of Dalton and completed the Georgia Smoke Diver program in 2017.  Growing up in the 80’s I was a huge Karate Kid, Rocky, and Bloodsport fan!  I remember watching my first UFC event when Royce Gracie fought Ken Shamrock and being amazed.  I was always fascinated by combat sports.  Fast forward to middle school I became interested in wrestling.  I continued wrestling through my middle and high school years.  Just out of high school I began to miss wrestling.  I missed the hard practices and the long weekend tournaments with my friends and coaches.  That’s when I began to reminisce about the days as a child watching Karate Kid over and over.  I sat down one day and decided to pick up a phone book and find the number to UKS.  I remembered seeing the commercials as a child and always wanted to give Taekwondo a try.  Over the next several months I participated in several tournaments.  Then one day after class one of my instructors asked me if I would be interested in going to a fighting event in Atlanta.  I was excited!  We met up on Saturday with several other UKS members to head down to the event.  That’s where I first met Andy Foster who was scheduled to fight on the card that night.  After we arrived and got seated I watched several fights, my heart racing each time.  Then Andy stepped into the ring.  My adrenaline began to pump as the fight began!  It was over in seconds and Andy came out on top with a submission via armbar!  After that moment I was hooked and knew I had to get involved.  The following week I began training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu with Andy Foster, Derek Cleary, and a few other guys.  A few months of training later I was at work one day at a local department store and seen a guy go running past me with a manager close behind.  I handed one of my fellow employees my jacket and took off.  I rounded the corner to see the manager getting wrecked by this guy.  I quickly shot a double leg and took the guy down.  He rolled to face me and that’s when I threw him in a cow-catcher, mounted him, and applied an americana shoulder lock.  He no longer wanted to fight and I passed him on to our security.  I was amazed that my training worked so well!  A couple years later I felt the urge to step into the cage myself.  It was time to put my training to the test.  I never had a dream of making a career out of fighting I just wanted to see if what I was learning measured up.  Andy told me he had me a fight against an opponent that was 3-0 at the time.  I accepted and my fight camp began.  I trained day in and day out to make sure I was at my peak level of fitness.  The day finally arrived in December 06’.  I remember sitting in the makeshift locker room and hearing my walkout music begin to play and the adrenaline begin to pump through my body.  As I walked out I saw all of my friends along side the path to the cage.  I stepped into the cage and turned to face my corner.  After a quick prayer with my coaches I turned and faced my opponent.  The cage door closed and I knew it was him or me.  Once we started I quickly closed the distance and clinched my opponent and took him down.  After what felt like an eternity of him holding on to me, I was finally able to sit-up into mount and let my hands go!  Shortly after, the referee stopped the fight and I won :42 seconds into the first round by TKO due to strikes!  I was ecstatic!  Shortly after that night I was promoted to blue belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu by Andy.  My training continued on for years and in 2010 I met Jason Finnel and was invited to a new gym he had opened up called Veritas Jiu-Jitsu.  I continued my training with Jason and all the other members for many more years participating in a few tournaments along the way.  Then finally in 2017 the day had come while we were at team training that I was promoted to the rank of Black Belt by Shawn Hammonds.  When you receive your Black Belt it is often said that your journey has just begun.  Moving on it has always been a dream of mine to start my own gym and I have the pleasure of doing so with many of the guys I have trained all these years with.  I currently hold the rank of second degree Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Shawn Hammonds and this year, 2024, marks 22 years that I have been practicing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.  I look forward to sharing that knowledge with you at Dalton Combatives.  I’ll see you on the mats!