Jorgensen eagerly waiting to dominate the champ
Winning his recent bout has been another precious moment for Scott "Young Gun" Jorgensen. The 27-year old Utah native came out blazing recently, defeating Brad Pickett on WEC 50: Cruz vs. Benavidez on 18 August.
In a hard-fought, technical match between the two sluggers, Pickett was able to set his pace at the start. Powerful combinations connected perfectly onto Jorgensen. But the “Young Gun” didn’t let himself down – he fired back and threw punches off his opponent. As the action went on, the two fighters continued to exchange shots, but Jorgensen’s assaults dominated his opponent.
In the end, Jorgensen won by way of a unanimous decision. According to Young Guns, it was a tough match and he knew that Brad was also an aggressor so he had to keep his pace to be able to win.
This is a piece of great news for Jorgensen as he was able to solidify his position as the number contender at the 135lb bantamweight division.
Not only that, Jorgensen could now earn a shot at the WEC Bantamweight title and exchange blows with the current champ Dominick Cruz.
“It’s exciting for me to hopefully get that title shot against Dominick and take the belt from him,” he said.
Though some people have it that Jorgensen could not win against Cruz, Jorgensen thinks the other way. He is confident in himself and believes that he could take out the champ.
“I obviously think I’m a better striker than Dominick. He just moves at a great rate and creates different angles. My wrestling is better than his. If I want to take someone down I will. I’ll find a way. If he wants stops it, I have other tricks in my bag,” explained Jorgensen.
“I feel I’m stronger in every area. I’ll bring that belt back,” he continued.
But does Jorgensen really have what it takes to take the title from Cruz?
Following his victory over Joseph Benavidez and successfully defending the Bantamweight title for the first time, “Dominator” Cruz is now ranked as the greatest fighter on his division. He is on a six-win streak, and his current record stands at 16-1. He suffered his lone loss at the hands of Urijah Faber via a guillotine choke in featherweight fight, making him undefeated at 135lb. This 24-year old Arizona native is a well-versed boxer and wrestler. During his win-streak, he defeated a number of prominent fighters such as Ivan Lopez, Charlie Valencia, Ian McCall, and Brian Bowles.
Jorgensen, meanwhile, holds a record of 11-3, and though his record pales compared to the champion’s, he is an accomplished grappler and wrestler, too. Most of his wins are via submissions, proving that he is really an expert on his field. He has won the WEC Fight of the Night award twice, and has defeated vet fighters including Noah Thomas, Takeya Mizugaki, Chad George, Frank Gomez, Kenji Ozawa and Antonio Banuelos.
When it comes to age and experience, Dominick Cruz is more experienced than Jorgensen. The champ started his MMA career on 2005, but was already able to amass a nerve-cracking nine-win streak. This is very impressive for an MMA starter, indeed.
Jorgensen’s start was not as smooth as the champ’s, though – he was only able to make two consecutive wins, until he suffered his first defeat over Joe Lesser. But Young Gun's wrestling background should never be overlooked. He started at a young age and continued to do college wrestling. Though he’s not an Olympic level wrestler like many other MMA fighters, he had joined many national tournaments and competed at other shows including Ring of Fire, ShoXC and X-Fighting Championships.
Whatever the case, he'll get the opportunity to fight for the biggest accolade of his career: the 135lb title and the number one ranking.
Tags: