"I’m going to take Jussier out quick and fast - Young Guns style." - Scott Jorgensen
Scottie “Young Guns” Jorgensen is not so young anymore.
At 31 years old, he’s had nearly as many professional fights as years, and even more wrestling matches throughout his childhood and college years, not to mention grappling tournaments and the day-to-day wear and tear his body takes just training.
These days, he looks at his eight-year-old son Braeten, and marvels at what his son knows as part of renowned wrestling coach Ivan Ivanov’s Team Suples.
“He’s learning stuff at eight years old I didn’t even know until I was eighteen and older,” says Jorgensen. “Not to mention the Ivanov brothers, aside from being world team wrestling coaches, they make throwing dummies, the Bulgarian bag, rope climbing systems and resistant band systems, so my son is learning how to train, not just how to wrestle. I wish I had that at his age.”
Jorgensen will face Jussier Formiga, a jiu jitsu specialist, at UFC Fight Night: Shogun vs Henderson 2 on March 23rd in Natal, Brazil.
Formiga was dropped in round one of his last fight against Joe Benavidez.
“We know he doesn’t like getting hit, and I’m going to go in there and not just hit him. I’m going in there to hurt him,” says Jorgensen. “He’s in there trying to take food out of my son’s mouth. He’s trying to take money away from my family. I’m going in there old Young Guns style and it’s going to make for a bad night for him.”
The Brazilian Formiga will have home turf advantage, but while Jorgensen hasn’t fought in a UFC event there, he has trained in Brazil and isn’t concerned with the time change or the traveling. He also isn’t worried about making 125, something that weighed heavily on his mind in his last fight - his first at Flyweight - against UFC newcomer Zach Makovsky.
“I hadn't weighed 125 since I was 17 years old, so it was a big concern to me,” he said. “I thought I was just gonna have to make weight and get in there and win. It didn’t happen that way and it was a huge lesson for me. This camp, I maintained my weight from the last fight and I was able to focus on training and my strategy, not just on making the weight.”
For Jorgenson (14-8), a win over Formiga will snap a two fight losing streak. But it’s not the loss to friend and former training partner Urijah Faber at 135 that gets his goat. It’s the loss to Makovsky that haunts him, and a win March 23rd will do well to help him shake the feeling.
“My fight with Zach, I went from fighting Ian McCall, who was number three, to John Dodson, who was number two, and I was focused on those guys, and Dodson gets hurt a week before the fight and I didn't think I was even going to get a fight,” he said. “And then Makovsky got the call and at that point I was just worried about making weight. In that fight I don't feel like I was myself. I didn't fight with a sense of urgency. He gave me lots of opportunities to push the pace and put pressure on him, but I didn't like I usually do. Honestly, I thought make the weight and you'll go in there and win, and I learned a real tough lesson that night. I made weight the night before and my mindset was that I had already won. I made weight. I won. That was my mindset. So when I went out there to fight I was in the wrong mindset. I lost at a weight where I should be fighting for a title. I learned that lesson the hard way. I got beat by a guy I feel I am a lot better than. Makovsky’s tough. He beat me. So I’m not taking anything away from him. But, man...”
In Formiga (15-3), Young Guns faces a younger and taller opponent than his last, and he is also a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu with seven submission victories under his belt.
“I know enough about him,” said Scottie. “He's been one of the top guys in Brazil, a BJJ black belt, and he wins a lot of decisions, but it’s just another fight. It's an important fight for me, but look, I've fought the best in the world over and over and over again. I've fought for so long and in so many big fights, I've fought every title contender or champion we've had at 135 pounds, Faber, Dominick (Cruz), Renan (Barao), (Eddie) Wineland, the best of the best. I was fighting the top of the division, even Dodson and McCall, and I get this newcomer - Makovsky is tough, he beat me, so I don't want to take anything away from him - but where I come from, it wasn't a title fight or a top contender, so I figured just make the weight and I would be fine. It is tough for me to take. It's a real gut check for me. There were a few things I could have done to beat Makovsky when I watch that fight over. But I didn't execute. And it's a lesson that I will learn from and never do that again. I’m going to take Jussier out quick and fast - Young Guns style.”