Back to School
Chris Yucus Jun 24, 2008
Sometimes even a teacher has to go back to school.
For Jorge Gurgel (Pictures), stepping away from coaching to become a student again has changed the way he looks at fighting.
"I feel like a new man," says Gurgel, who "dropped everything" to
spend the past five weeks in Seattle working under Matt Hume (Pictures)'s tutelage in preparation for his
July 5 lightweight fight against Cole Miller (Pictures) at UFC 86. "It's the best
training camp I've ever had. I've never had a coach before; I've
always been everybody's coach. I've never had anybody look over me
and make me a priority."
Gurgel (12-3, 3-2 UFC) runs his own school, JG MMA Academy near Cincinnati, and also looks after 12 affiliate schools in the United States and Canada. He sees the change from mentor to pupil as necessary for his development as a fighter.
"I've never had a coach who focused on me. I have a school with 400-500 students. … I'm always working with pro fighters, the guys that we train, and training myself. I've never had a coach to tell me when to stop training, when to train more, when to train this technique, what to do."
According to Hume, Gurgel has benefited from focusing solely on his own training.
"He's pretty nervous about not being there for his guys for the first time," says Hume, "but at the same time he's always had that pressure and responsibility on top of him as well as training for his own fights. I think that it's a big weight off of him to not have that pressure on him."
Hume also describes Gurgel as an ideal pupil.
"Working with Jorge has been great," Hume says. "He's the type of guy I like to work with. He's self-motivated and really pushes himself. He's really a perfectionist. It makes my job easier when all I have to do is teach and I don't have to motivate."
While in Seattle with Hume, Gurgel has also been working with strength and conditioning coach Joel Jamieson at End Zone Athletics. He has glowing praise for Jamieson's approach to working out.
"He's unbelievable. He's completely different than what I'm used to, very scientific," Gurgel says.
Jamieson's scientific methods, which utilize constant monitoring of bodily functions to gauge response to training regimens, have yielded tremendous results with Gurgel in only five weeks.
"My resting heart rate when I got here was 91, because I was always so hyper," Gurgel says. "Now it's below 60."
Gurgel's new training approach in Seattle, as well as his time with sports psychologist Brian Cain, who previously worked with Georges St. Pierre (Pictures), has the 31-year-old native of Brazil feeling extremely confident going into his upcoming bout with Miller (13-3, 2-1 UFC).
"Cole Miller is an up-and-comer, a very dangerous opponent, but I feel my skills match up well against his," Gurgel says. "I think my jiu-jitsu is better and my striking is better. I'm stronger and more explosive."
Hume agrees with Gurgel's assessment of the matchup.
"I don't see anything that Cole brings to the table being too much for Jorge," says the trainer.
One thing Gurgel is looking out for is Miller's decided height advantage.
"He has a big reach advantage, but I'm working on that," Gurgel says. "I'm going to use my footwork and be a lot more methodical, not the crazy bat out of hell that you've seen me be before. He's going to try and hit me, and I'm not going to be there."
Miller trains at American Top Team in Florida with Gurgel's longtime friend and fellow UFC lightweight Marcus Aurelio. However, Gurgel says that while he often talks to Aurelio, who will also be fighting at UFC 86, he does not ask about Miller.
"I don't really care or worry about what my opponent is doing, how he's doing. I care about what I do," says Gurgel. "I worry about what I do, things that I control. I can't concern myself with how hard he's training, how he is doing."
While both he and Miller are known to be quality ground fighters, Gurgel doesn't necessarily expect a large portion of the fight to take place on the mat.
"You never see me try and take anybody down," he says. "I always train to stand up with everybody. So if he wants to stand up and trade with me, he's more than welcome to."
Gurgel has often eschewed the ground game for striking, despite his black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. He says that his striking-first mentality stems from a desire to entertain during his fights and enjoy his time in the cage.
"People tell me I'm stupid for standing, that I should do things for me and not everybody else, but I'm there to put on a show for the fans," he explains. "I like to be a crowd pleaser, but mainly this is the job I chose to do for my life. If I'm not going to have fun fighting, why do it? I have a blast standing up."
Whether that approach is the best one remains debatable. Regardless, Gurgel holds three wins in the Octagon, though he has yet to experience a true sense of victory in the UFC.
"I've lived my whole life to have that feeling in the Octagon, that rush, that high from a great performance," he says. "In all my fights in the UFC, I've never felt that feeling; I've been striving, working so hard to get that feeling of finishing a fight. I can see it through the screen, what people feel like. How Rich has felt, how Forrest felt when he finished Shogun -- when people get that knockout or great submission and they look up in the air and scream.
"I've been searching for that feeling for 15 years of my life, training every single day. I've never felt it yet, and I'm really hoping that July 5th will be my day."
For Jorge Gurgel (Pictures), stepping away from coaching to become a student again has changed the way he looks at fighting.
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Gurgel (12-3, 3-2 UFC) runs his own school, JG MMA Academy near Cincinnati, and also looks after 12 affiliate schools in the United States and Canada. He sees the change from mentor to pupil as necessary for his development as a fighter.
"I needed to be just a student," he says. "I needed somebody to say
‘OK, man, you do nothing but train with me and prepare for a
fight.' Matt said, ‘You're going to come to Seattle and I'm going
to take care of you.'
"I've never had a coach who focused on me. I have a school with 400-500 students. … I'm always working with pro fighters, the guys that we train, and training myself. I've never had a coach to tell me when to stop training, when to train more, when to train this technique, what to do."
According to Hume, Gurgel has benefited from focusing solely on his own training.
"He's pretty nervous about not being there for his guys for the first time," says Hume, "but at the same time he's always had that pressure and responsibility on top of him as well as training for his own fights. I think that it's a big weight off of him to not have that pressure on him."
Hume also describes Gurgel as an ideal pupil.
"Working with Jorge has been great," Hume says. "He's the type of guy I like to work with. He's self-motivated and really pushes himself. He's really a perfectionist. It makes my job easier when all I have to do is teach and I don't have to motivate."
While in Seattle with Hume, Gurgel has also been working with strength and conditioning coach Joel Jamieson at End Zone Athletics. He has glowing praise for Jamieson's approach to working out.
"He's unbelievable. He's completely different than what I'm used to, very scientific," Gurgel says.
Jamieson's scientific methods, which utilize constant monitoring of bodily functions to gauge response to training regimens, have yielded tremendous results with Gurgel in only five weeks.
"My resting heart rate when I got here was 91, because I was always so hyper," Gurgel says. "Now it's below 60."
Gurgel's new training approach in Seattle, as well as his time with sports psychologist Brian Cain, who previously worked with Georges St. Pierre (Pictures), has the 31-year-old native of Brazil feeling extremely confident going into his upcoming bout with Miller (13-3, 2-1 UFC).
"Cole Miller is an up-and-comer, a very dangerous opponent, but I feel my skills match up well against his," Gurgel says. "I think my jiu-jitsu is better and my striking is better. I'm stronger and more explosive."
Hume agrees with Gurgel's assessment of the matchup.
"I don't see anything that Cole brings to the table being too much for Jorge," says the trainer.
One thing Gurgel is looking out for is Miller's decided height advantage.
"He has a big reach advantage, but I'm working on that," Gurgel says. "I'm going to use my footwork and be a lot more methodical, not the crazy bat out of hell that you've seen me be before. He's going to try and hit me, and I'm not going to be there."
Miller trains at American Top Team in Florida with Gurgel's longtime friend and fellow UFC lightweight Marcus Aurelio. However, Gurgel says that while he often talks to Aurelio, who will also be fighting at UFC 86, he does not ask about Miller.
"I don't really care or worry about what my opponent is doing, how he's doing. I care about what I do," says Gurgel. "I worry about what I do, things that I control. I can't concern myself with how hard he's training, how he is doing."
While both he and Miller are known to be quality ground fighters, Gurgel doesn't necessarily expect a large portion of the fight to take place on the mat.
"You never see me try and take anybody down," he says. "I always train to stand up with everybody. So if he wants to stand up and trade with me, he's more than welcome to."
Gurgel has often eschewed the ground game for striking, despite his black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. He says that his striking-first mentality stems from a desire to entertain during his fights and enjoy his time in the cage.
"People tell me I'm stupid for standing, that I should do things for me and not everybody else, but I'm there to put on a show for the fans," he explains. "I like to be a crowd pleaser, but mainly this is the job I chose to do for my life. If I'm not going to have fun fighting, why do it? I have a blast standing up."
Whether that approach is the best one remains debatable. Regardless, Gurgel holds three wins in the Octagon, though he has yet to experience a true sense of victory in the UFC.
"I've lived my whole life to have that feeling in the Octagon, that rush, that high from a great performance," he says. "In all my fights in the UFC, I've never felt that feeling; I've been striving, working so hard to get that feeling of finishing a fight. I can see it through the screen, what people feel like. How Rich has felt, how Forrest felt when he finished Shogun -- when people get that knockout or great submission and they look up in the air and scream.
"I've been searching for that feeling for 15 years of my life, training every single day. I've never felt it yet, and I'm really hoping that July 5th will be my day."
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