Scott “Young Guns” Jorgensen (13-5) is one of the most exciting elite bantamweights in the UFC today.
Since he started fighting, up until recently, Jorgensen has never had a coach in mixed martial arts. In a sport dominated by fighters with great strategies from brilliant coaches, the 29-year-old currently is ranked in the Top 10, having fought champion Dominick Cruz to a decision.
Now, seeing the error of his ways, Jorgensen knows what he has to do to climb the top of the mountain. He has to strategize and fight smarter, but most importantly of all, he has to attack with the same aggression he had when he started.
“If you look at my fights from when I was coming up in the WEC, up until the point I fought Dominick, you’ll see a completely different Scott,” Jorgensen told MMAWeekly Radio Weekend Edition.
“I quit attacking like I used to. I wasn’t trying to close the gap and get in there to hurt people. And that’s definitely going to change. I had great conversations with a couple of really good coaches in the striking game and opportunities with them. They’re well renowned, not just great coaches themselves, they’re also great game planners.”
For years, Jorgensen used to train with just his friends who were exceptional at what they do, but never properly strategized. Training out of Boise, Idaho, the former three-time Pac-10 wrestler would hear multiple voices in his corner. At times he would have to take a blind eye to things and not pay attention to what was said in his corner.
“I failed to ever have a coach. A lot of people look at me like, ‘you’re where you’re at; you’ve had to have had Greg Jackson or somebody,’ but no, I’ve done this all myself. I’ve got a bunch of friends that I train with and Kit Cope is the closest thing I’ve had to a coach, but never. Some of my problems in my fights with my buddies are that I got three different people going in three different directions. Sometimes I’d block things out, and sometimes when you block things out you turn a blind eye to actually what’s really going on inside the cage and you miss things.”
“It’s like the Barao fight, my corner I got Jesse telling me to move my head and get inside, I got Joe screaming to take him down, and I got my jiu-jitsu coach waiting for something to hit the ground. So I’m blocking it out and just going with the flow. I didn’t feel in danger with Barao. I didn’t feel like I was getting completely crushed, but I felt like I didn’t have someone guiding me with someone going, ‘hey, don’t play the points game,’ or ‘throw more than one jab at a time,’ or ‘one cross and then move.’ I avoided a lot of strikes, but I wasn’t throwing three or four punches that actually open up takedowns.”
Now with the proper strategy and coaches on his side, Jorgensen feels almost reborn in the UFC, looking to get back into title contention. It’s hard to see otherwise, as the former No. 1 bantamweight contender has seemingly made it to the top with little guidance.
Jorgensen will next step in the Octagon against Eddie Wineland at UFC on FX 3 on June 8.
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