Biography
Zoila Frausto has been involved in sports from childhood. She trained in Tae Kwon Do and played soccer until a knee injury forced her out of the sport and changed direction for the life of the Fresno, California native. Frausto's father, who is a third-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do, introduced Zoila to the martial art when she was young. Zoila trained and competed in Tae Kwon Do tournaments and earned a black belt. The unexpected divorce of her parents was a turbulent time for young Zoila, whose adverse reactions to the divorce lead to her causing trouble and getting expelled off sports teams. Zoila found calm by taking up boxing and joining the local Pro Buhawe team to train in Muay Thai. After she competed and won two Muay Thai bouts, the "flashy kick-boxer" entered Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) with her focus on punching and kicking, believing if she was taken to the ground she would quickly stand up. Frausto later acknowledged that she felt her confidence and striking abilities alone would propel her to success. In Feburary 2009, Frausto fought Karina Hallinan in a bantamweight bout for the Wargods promotion. Both women competed in professional MMA for the first time. For the three rounds of 3 minute action, Frausto exhibited her kicking and striking, while Hallinan obtained control on the ground from takedowns in the first two rounds. Frausto won by split decision and fought Sarah Boyd that June in Disturb The Peace to get a unanimous win. Frausto earned a second unanimous victory a month after when she fought Leann Jenkins for PureCombat. Her next opponent was Elisha Helsper in the more high profiled Strikeforce (2006) event Strikeforce Challengers 4 (2009).
While doing publicity leading up to her fight with Helsper, Frausto met Jorge Gurgel, who was booked in the main event on the same card. Gurgel, who felt she needed ground skills after watching her fight, later invited her train in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at his gym in Cincinnati. Frausto defeated Helsper by unanimous decision and took a fight against veteran Canadian boxer Jessica Rakoczy for Tachi Palace Fights in Feburary 2010. In a bout with 3-minute rounds, Frausto feigned takedowns and used head kicks to keep Rakoczy at a distance. Frausto rushed forward and took Rakoczy to the ground for the remainder of the round. Frausto moved for an early takedown which Rakoczy defended with her back on the cage and control of her opponent's neck. Frausto moved to striking Rakoczy who pushed her on the fence. Zoila reversed her and brought her to the ground in the process. Zoila had the full mount position and secured an arm-bar for her first submission victory. Frausto returned to Strikeforce for Strikeforce Challengers 7 (2010) to fight Miesha Tate. Tate controlled Frausto in the first round by utilizing her wrestling abilities to take the fight ground twice. Frausto escaped from a rear-naked-choke attempt. She unleashed with kicks and punches in the second round against Tate. Tate closed the distance and fought hard for a takedown until she was successful. Tate resumed her domination of Frausto on the ground in the second round and went for an arm-triangle choke submission. When Frausto fought out of it, Tate transitioned to an arm-bar which Frausto resisted for a while before giving up. It was Zoila's first loss in MMA, which she attributed to her lack of ground fighting skills, and decided to expand her arsenal by spending more time on wrestling and jiu-jitsu. She accepted the invitation from Jorge Gurgel to train at his Jorge Gurgel MMA and Fitness Academy in Cincinnati, and later lived with him. Frausto returned to competition two months after her first loss when she fought Michelle Ould in The Warriors Cage promotion. Ould controlled the action early by forcing Frausto against the cage, and pulled her to the ground. The fight was stood up and Frausto landed strikes before Ould closed the gap, took her down, attempted a guillotine choke then transitioned to an arm-bar when the round expired. Frausto out-struck Ould early in round two, and Ould again forced Frausto in the cage in a takedown attempt which failed. Ould landed on her back and Frausto capitalized with attacks from above. Ould stood up and Frausto's push kick sent her back to the ground where she was attacked with punches and kicks to the leg. Frausto's attack on Ould's injured right ankle forced the referee to intervene after the expressions of pain from Ould. The fight was officially ruled a submission stoppage. Bellator Fighting Championships (2009) contacted Frausto for a flyweight (125lbs) bout with Rosi Sexton soon after, with the chance for a spot in the promotion's upcoming Season 3 Women's 115lbs (Strawweight) Tournament. She traveled to Ohio to train with Gurgel to prepare for Sexton, an adept ground fighter who became her coach. Frausto and Sexton fought at 121-pound catch-weight at Bellator Fighting Championships 23 (2010). Frausto opted to keep the fight standing and avoided Sexton's initial attempts to take her to the ground. Sexton caught her right leg after she connected with a body kick, and briefly took her down. Back in the stand-up Sexton hit Frausto's body with knees while in a clinch against the fence. Frausto escaped from the cage, and hit a left knee to Sexton's face during another takedown attempt, sending her to her back. Frausto landed three punches to the face and the fight was stopped after two minutes.
Sexton, who had a tournament spot reserved in Bellator's Strawweight tournament to crown a champion at 115-pounds, was later replaced by Frausto due to a 60-day medical suspension. Competing in the tournament brought additional challenges to Frausto, whose natural weight lies in the 140-pound range (featherweight). Frausto fought Jessica Penne in a quarterfinal bout during Bellator Fighting Championships 25 (2010). Still new to ground fighting, Frausto opted to keep the bout standing. She achieved that by landing kicks at the opening of round one, and defended all attempts by Penne to get her on the ground. Frausto escaped a leg-lock submission by Penne near the end of the round. Penne was the one who started kicking in round two, and it was Frausto who later got her to the ground with an inside leg trip accompanied by punches. In the third round, Penne resumed her goal of bringing Frausto to the ground. Frausto continued to successfully defend and tossed Penne to the ground a few times and landed punches and knee strikes. The unanimous decision win over Penne moved Frausto to the semifinals to face Jessica Aguilar. In preparing for Aguilar, Zoila had to deal with a sharp increase to featherweight (145lbs) and had to endure a grueling weight cut in a limited time to compete in the tournament. Frausto fought Aguilar at Bellator Fighting Championships 31 (2010). Aguilar had spoke about her intent to take the fight to the ground, while Frausto said she wanted to make it purely a stand up. Frausto had success with that game plan in round 1, backing away to keep Aguilar at striking distance. Aguilar clinched with Frausto against the cage and attempted to take down the naturally larger Frausto via single-leg and double-leg without success. Frausto continue her in plan in round 2 while Aguilar pursued her. In round 3 Aguilar was more aggressive with the strikes than Frausto who kept maintaining a distance. The stand-up minded Frausto did something unexpected by trying to take Aguilar to the ground three times before the bout ended. Two of the three judges favored Frausto with the same score (30-27) to grant her a contentious split decision win over Aguilar. Frausto made it to the finals against undefeated Megumi Fujii at Bellator Fighting Championships 34 (2010). Frausto entered the championship bout again intent on fighting within her strengths by keeping the bout from the ground, conscious of Fujii's submission abilities. She delivered leg kicks to Fujii in round one and defended against attempts to bring her to the ground. Frausto landed kicks in the second two in between countering Fujii's own attacks, as she pursued Frausto against the fence. Frausto was aggressive in the third round with kicks and punches. Changing roles with Fuijii by becoming the pursuer. The fourth round began with Frausto and Fujii exchanging punches until Fujii resumed moving with punches. Frausto connected with leg kicks, and Fujii clinches with her against the cage and landed knee strikes. Frausto reversed her against the cage and Fujii failed to toss her to the ground. Fighters clinched and it was broken up. Frausto hit Fujii with leg kicks to open the fifth and final round, while there was a failed single-leg takedown attempt from Fujii down. Frausto kept defending further takedowns until Fujii got her first takedown in the bout with 30 seconds left in the fight, Fujii remained in control from the top and the fight went to the judges. Frausto won the Bellator Strawweight World Championship by a split decision with scores of 49-46/48-47 to her, and 48-47 for Fujii.
Outside of MMA competition and training, Frausto married Jorge Gurgel in February 2011 and adopted his surname. While the Bellator promotion never booked a Strawweight (115lbs) title fight, Gurgel felt better competing at Flyweight (125lbs). Gurgel returned to competition as a Flyweight in March 2011 for a rematch with her first MMA opponent, Karina Hallinan, at Bellator Fighting Championships 35 (2011) in a non-title bout. She won the fight unanimously but fractured her right hand in obtaining the win. A second non-title bout with Jessica Aguilar was scheduled for Bellator Fighting Championships 57 (2011) in November 2011 which never came to fruition. Aguilar withdrew due to foot surgery and Carina Damm replaced her until Gurgel suffered an injured ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) while training in wrestling. The bout was cancelled after Gurgel withdrew on October 20, 2011. Gurgel went online to appeal to MMA fans for financial help with surgery estimated to be in the $50,000 range. The move was met with many negative reactions on message-boards and social networking sites. Jorge defended the decision, citing his wife's mounting medical bills from previous fights and his own financial problems with his gym. Gurgel later said that Bellator's public offer to pay for his wife's procedure was never fulfilled. The injury kept Gurgel from fighting for a year until her return in October 2012 at Bellator Fighting Championships 78 (2012). Gurgel fought Casey Noland and won by unanimous decision. Over a month later she fought Jessica Eye at Bellator Fighting Championships 83 (2012) in December 2012. Gurgel ran forward and was knocked down by Eye, who then took control and applied a standing arm-triangle choke. Gurgel went unconscious a minute in the bout, losing to Eye by technical submission. The bout fulfilled the remainder of her Bellator contract, and in February 2013 the all-women Invicta Fighting Championships announced that Gurgel had signed a multi-fight agreement with the promotion.
