At UFC on Fox 5 in December, 2012 bantamweight Scott Jorgensen produced a first-round submission victory over John Albert to earn himself an early double-check holiday bonus. He reflects on what that win here.

It’s always interesting to watch a fighter who is on a significant losing streak go into the cage. You wonder where their head is at, especially when their back is placed firmly against the wall. When the possibility of a lackluster performance and the subsequent pink slip that comes with it haunts the mind of a fighter.

So when you put two athletes inside of a cage who are both of that mind-set, the intensity of the encounter increases 10-fold for all involved. So, when Scott Jorgensen met John Albert at UFC on Fox 5, it was a case of ‘everything to gain, everything to lose.’ 

Despite being the opening fight on the engrossing Seattle card, as expected both men fought as if it was the main event, so high were the stakes. In the end, Jorgensen, the wily WEC veteran, evaded numerous submission attempts from Albert to sink in his own, with a second to spare in the opening round.

“He (John Albert) created a scramble and I floated it, and as he bumped and turned I got myself up and let him roll under me. I ended up taking his back, stuck my left hook in like I’d drilled with Diego (Moraes) time and time again, and as soon as the left hook went in I started to look for his neck,” Jorgensen explained, in the locker rooms after the bout.

“I originally wasn’t even looking for the choke, I was just going to secure the hooks and keep on his back. I heard the clap so I knew I could take a risk, I went for the choke and sunk it deep. I ended up with a short choke and not a full rear naked choke with my arm around his neck, just a nice, tight short choke.”

He adds: “I’m one of the stronger 135lb’ers, so I drove my hips through the mat, arched my back and watched his hands tap right at the last second.”

And it wasn’t just the fans who thought the bout was a heart-stopping spectacle, apparently the Zuffa top brass believed it was worth paying extra for also, bestowing Jorgensen with ‘Submission of the Night’ and ‘Fight of the Night’ awards, making up a fine $130,000 bonus.

‘Young Guns’ finishes: “I’m going to go home, talk to my accountant and my girlfriend and see what happens (laughs). I got a son so he’s getting some put back into his college fund, and Christmas is around the corner. Plus, I just got a brand new Dodge that might just get paid off. We’ll see.

Postscript: Jorgensen has a 15-12 MMA record and was released from UFC in 2016.