With 13 wins and 3 losses in his mixed martial arts career and a fight coming up against Cole Miller at UFC 86 (RAMPAGE JACKSON vs. FORREST GRIFFIN, on Sat. July, 5th live on PPV, from the MANDALAY BAY EVENTS CENTER in Las Vegas, NV), Jorge Gurgel explains to me, "I'm very excited. Saturday can not come any sooner. I've been here in Seattle preparing for the last 6 weeks straight. It's been the best training camp I've ever had. I finally have a coach that is going to be my permanent coach. That finally, I think, is going to make me fight to my potential and do what I've always planned to do. I've been very disappointed with my sub par performances in my UFC career so now, I'm ready. I am mentally ready. I'm physically ready. I have a coach. I have a sport psychiatrist. It's the best I've ever been, so I really can not wait to fight to the level my fans have been expecting me to fight and pretty much myself. I have been very disappointed with my UFC fights. You know, I've had great fights up until I got up to the UFC, being a coach and being a fighter at the same time really has not paid any dividends to me and I've been separating myself from Ohio. I secluded myself to becoming just a student again. I think it has been the best move I have made in a long time."
Jorge isn't leaving Ohio for good. He says, "I have a school with 400 hundred students there. Now, every 2 months, I will have a fight; I will be training with Matt (Hume). Wherever Matt is, sometimes Matt comes to Ohio and trains at my school, sometimes Matt goes to Hawaii, and we're going to train in Hawaii. I just plan on making my training camp whatever Matt Hume's decides for me and him to do." Matt is also Rich Franklins coach.
The school Jorge owns is JG MMA Academy. He described it to me, "I have a 13 thousand square foot facility in Ohio. My gym is extremely successful. I have a full octagon in there. Boxing ring, over 5,000 square feet of mats. Everything I've ever wanted is there. I just needed a coach. As soon as I stepped out of that octagon for my last fight I made a call and I made a decision that I was not performing up to my expectations or to anybody's expectations. "
On Sat. in the corner for Jorge will be, "Rich Franklin, Matt Hume and I think you always see my little brother. He looks like me. He is little. My little brother, he is always in my corner." In the audience will be his entire family minus his father, who had his visa denied, even with a letter from the UFC.
To his fans Jorge would like to say, "For some reason I have a humungous fan base. Way more than I think I deserve. They give me the motivation everyday. Every time that I read a message or an email saying how much they like to see me fight and how much they support me, all through the good and the bad times. You guys are what gives me so much motivation so much energy to go out and train and battle through my injuries. You guys are my motivation; you guys are my energy. All my students that believe in me, that's what drives me. I don't want to let anybody down. I'm very grateful and appreciative of all the support and the love of my fans, all these years, especially my students. They are my life. They are my family. They've been nothing but great and motivation to me through the years.
I can't imagine as an MMA fan missing UFC 86; RAMPAGE JACKSON vs. FORREST GRIFFIN. Now I also can't wait to see the new and improved Jorge Gurgel!
by Penny Buffington of MMA-Underground.com
Here are the audio clips from Penny Buffington's Interview with Jorge Gurgel:
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