Issue 063
June 2010
Anyone who witnessed the phenomenal guillotine choke executed with uncanny precision by bantamweight phenom Scott ‘Young Guns’ Jorgenson at WEC 47 won’t soon forget it. With a background in wrestling and a rapidly-improving stand-up game, Jorgenson is like the fighting rooster from whence the division got it’s moniker.
Q: Any plans on unleashing that beast of a guillotine again?
A: I might just do that. When I fight with a calm, cool head I’m very, very dangerous. Any opponent that faces me now is in for a really rude awakening.
Was that choke the high point of your career thus far?
Nah man, it was just another win. My high point hasn’t been hit yet. I’m just having mad fun. That’s what it’s going to take for me to get the WEC belt. I think, probably, the most prominent win, victory, or point in my career thus far would be my decisive win over Takeya Mizugaki. A lot of people hold Mizugaki really high in the rankings and I went out there and demolished him. I crushed him – he couldn’t do anything. He just goes to show what I can do to a high-level fighter when I’m on. When I’m having fun and relaxed I’m pretty hard to beat.
Tell me this Scott, what got you into fighting initially?
I grew up in St George, Utah, and I started going to an old-school boxing gym there. Then my friend started wrestling. I was about eight years old – I know this because I still have the first tournament medal I ever won – it was a gold medal. My Dad wrestled for a small college up in Idaho. I think my Dad was kind of excited that I wanted to wrestle. He was like, ‘You want to wrestle. That’s great.’
I met Jens Pulver in my freshman year at college at Boise State. That’s when I realized that there might be an opportunity for me to make a living doing something that I loved. Jens planted that seed in 2001, then Faber [Urijah] added the water to kind of get the plant growing man. Faber wrestled for a rival college and we were always kind of buddies. He was fighting at the time when we became friends and he kept telling me, ‘You’ve got to get into it, you’ll be good, you’ll get to make money doing something you love.” Man, was he right.
Do you think that wrestlers who get into the MMA game have an advantage over someone with no wrestling background?
Wrestling is such a disciplined sport. The amount of body awareness it takes to compete at a high level of wrestling is unreal. The type of college I went to and the level that I wrestled at, it just builds you man. My favorite description of me was Kenny Florian calling me the ‘Little Terminator’ because I’m not going to quit. You’ve got to knock me out or choke me unconscious before I stop coming at you.
Would you rather have an Olympic gold medal in wrestling or be the WEC champ, the best bantamweight in the world?
I’d take the bantamweight belt. That’s what I am now. I’m a fighter. I never did what I wanted to in college wrestling. I’m not bitter at the sport but I lost the ability to have fun competing. It became such a stressful thing. That stress really kept me from reaching my full potential as a wrestler. I had opportunities to go to the Olympic training center and I bypassed it all to fight. I don’t regret my decision one bit. I love this sport so much.
If you weren’t a fighter, what would you be doing with your life?
I’d be a home carer. It’s funny because a lot of people would never know this, but I’m a partner in a homecare office and I work in homecare when I don’t have a fight on the books. When I’m not fighting I’m helping people. I work for one of the largest privately owned homecare companies in the world. I’m a busy guy and a businessman and I like to help people.
Do we need more characters in MMA (like yourself)?
I think it’s a great thing for the sport. If you look at all the major sports everybody has got their guys with their attitudes and charisma, you know? I’ve never tried to be a character – I’m me. If you meet me outside of the cage I’m the same guy as I am in the cage. I think there are enough of us in this sport that create enough buzz around our characters, our charisma, our personalities to keep people interested. You can’t force people to be entertainers when some of them are not. As far as I go, it’s just me man – it’s something I love.
Scott Jorgenson spoke with Barry Hanley
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