Jorge Gurgel

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1 Profile
2 Early Career
3 The Ultimate Fighter
4 UFC Career
5 Strikeforce
6 Mixed martial arts record
7 Gallery
8 External links

Profile

Jorge Gurgel (born January 25, 1977) is a Brazilian-American professional mixed martial artist and Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt under Marcus Aurelio.

He stands 5 ft. 7 in. (170 cm) tall and fights in the lightweight division (155 lbs.).

Gurgel is a UFC veteran and was a contestant on The Ultimate Fighter Season 2. He currently fights as a lightweight for the Strikeforce organization.

Early Career

Jorge Gurgel began his professional mixed martial arts career on March 16, 2002 at a one night four man tournament held by the Ultimate Wrestling promotion in Minnesota. His official debut came against Elvin Rodriguez who he submitted via armbar at the 1:10 mark of round 1.

Gurgel cinched the tournament with an 18 second armbar submission over Calib Carr later that night.

He followed those two victories up with three more in a seven month span in 2003, with all victories coming via way of submission.

On November 23, 2003, Gurgel suffered the first professional loss of his career when he was submitted with a heel hook by Japanese fighter, Masakazu Imanari at just 32 seconds of the first round.

Gurgel bounced back from the loss with four straight guillotine choke submission wins which included notable opponents, Joe Jordan and Jason Ireland.

The Ultimate Fighter

With his highly regarded grappling background, 9-1 MMA record, and friendship with one of that season's coaches in middleweight champion, Rich Franklin, Gurgel was selected as a welterweight contestant for The Ultimate Fighter Season 2.

Gurgel had spent the entirety of his career at lightweight and was thus substantially outweighed by almost every other contestant. Added to that was the instability of his knees that Gurgel had refused to have surgery on in order to be on the show.

On Episode 6, Gurgel was selected to face Jason Von Flue. Gurgel controlled the first round and won it decisively but was overcome in the following two rounds by Von Flue and dropped a disappointing unanimous decision.

UFC Career

Despite an early exit from TUF 2, Gurgel was given a UFC contract following its conclusion. In his UFC debut at UFC Fight Night 5, he faced talented kickboxer, Mark Hominick on the main card. Gurgel decided to keep the fight on the feet surprisingly, and lost a unanimous decision.

Three months later, Gurgel returned against TUF 3's Danny Abbadi on the undercard of UFC 63. Gurgel controlled all aspects of the fight and earned himself a very clear cut split decision.

After a 10 month break, Gurgel faced off against Diego Saraiva at UFC 74 in July of 2007. In a bout that earned both fighters "Fight of the Night", the two grapplers banged it out on the feet for three rounds with Gurgel eventually being awarded the unanimous decision victory.

Although having suffered a broken jaw and a host of other injuries following the Saraiva victory, Gurgel still managed to be ready for a bout against Alvin Robinson on the main card of UFC 77, just three months later. In front of his adopted home crowd, Gurgel opted to use his accomplished jiu jitsu skills as opposed to the striking he had become accustomed to using in his other UFC bouts. Gurgel controlled the first round positionally and looked good doing so, but was overwhelmed in the final two rounds with Robinson's striking from the guard and his strength, eventually dropping a unanimous decision.

At UFC 82, Gurgel picked up his third UFC victory with a unanimous decision over John Halverson.

A little over four months later, Gurgel was matched up against TUF 5's Cole Miller on the undercard of UFC 86: Jackson vs. Griffin. Gurgel opted again to utilize his grappling and it paid dividends for the majority of 14:48 of the fight. However, Gurgel got lazy late in the third round and was caught in a triangle choke by Miller. Although he was ahead on the cards, Gurgel could not hold out for the last 12 seconds of the fight and tapped out, awarding Miller the victory.

On November 15, 2008, at UFC 91, Gurgel faced Aaron Riley on the undercard. In a bout that earned both fighters, "Fight of the Night", Gurgel resorted back to his wild striking ways and went toe to toe with the more skilled striker. After three rounds of solid exchanging, Riley was awarded the unanimous decision victory.

Following the bout, Gurgel was cut from his UFC contract.

Strikeforce

Extremely disappointed and saddened with the UFC's decision to axe him, Gurgel moved on and immediately signed a contract with the California based, Strikeforce organization.