The main event Saturday night features a fun bantamweight scrap between two ol’ pals in former WEC champion Urijah Faber and former title challenger Scott Jorgensen.
It was in fact Faber who got Jorgensen to start training in mixed martial arts after watching him wrestle while Faber was coaching wrestling at his alma mater UC Davis.
For Faber, it’s another chance to prove he deserves to stay in the discussion of title shots, and for Jorgensen a win over the number three ranked guy in the division would do wonders for his chances at climbing the ranks.
Jorgensen comes into the bout with a record of 14-6, his most recent bout being a win over former TUF competitor John Albert by submission in what was one of the rounds of the year. He has fought a who’s who in the bantamweight division and done very well for himself, winning seven of his last ten, with those three losses being to the two men fighting for the interim belt (Eddie Wineland and Renan Barao), and the champion Dominick Cruz. A win over Faber could put him next in line should Cruz’s injury keep him out even longer.
Jorgensen’s clearest path to victory has always been his wrestling. He’s good at enticing opponents into brawls before capitalizing on their aggressiveness with take downs. As far as bantamweights go, he’s not the fastest or most athletic but he does possess the kind of power in all facets of his game that is able to neutralize the speed of most of his opponents. Jorgensen, like many wrestlers turned fighters, fell in love with his striking for a time, and while exciting and sometimes very effective, he’s best suited getting top position and working his opponents over with ground and pound. Although in this fight, his best bet may be to try to entice Faber into a brawl.
Faber is one of the most popular fighters in the Ultimate Fighting Championship and was the face of the now defunct World Extreme Cagefighting for the duration of its time on the Versus network. He is really the first fighter in the lower weight classes to become a household name, especially in my parts up in Northern California. Despite his popularity, he’s caught flak from hard cores and media members alike for failing to capitalize on his many opportunities in title fights since losing his WEC featherweight title in 2008. Since that fight against Mike Brown, he’s gone 6-4, with all four losses being in title fights. Overall, Faber holds a 27-6 record with an impressive twenty-two finishes under his belt.
Much like his counterpart, Faber’s strength is his wrestling. Paired with his high fight IQ, solid chin and stellar athleticism. Faber is able to create scrambles and come out with a dominate position at an alarming rate. His submissions are somewhat underrated, especially his chokes, with thirteen of his fifteen career subs coming by way of a choke hold. He possesses solid, technical striking but is also able to again capitalize on his speed and athleticism and attack from odd angles. The recent addition Muay Thai specialist Duane Ludwig as head coach should only increase his striking ability, as we’ve seen some of his teammates improve immensely to far under “Bang.”
A lot of times when fighters have similar strengths and weaknesses the old saying that one guy is, “just a little bit better and everything” than the other is easy to throw out there. In my opinion, I think it’s safe to say Faber is quite a bit better at all the things Jorgensen can do to win a fight. Add into the fact that they are friends, Faber got him into the sport, and Jorgensen looked up to Urijah. I can see this fight turning into a “big brother, little brother” situation where one guy just completely bullies the other into submission. I don’t think it lasts long, with Faber catching Scott in a scramble and latching on another one of his finishing chokeholds.