UFC
UFC 143: Scott Jorgensen looking to finish Renan Barao; eyes second Bantamweight Title shot
Feb 1, 2012 - 10:20:01 PM UFC 143: Scott Jorgensen looking to finish Renan Barao; eyes second Bantamweight Title shot

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Saturday's UFC 143 card has essentially been presented as a one-fight card, with the fantastically exciting Interim Welterweight Championship bout between Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit rightfully getting nearly all of the attention. However, that's not all there is to like on the main card of the pay-per-view event this weekend.

There are a number of entertaining matchups and relatively big names, and one fight that should be an excellent and meaningful affair is the bantamweight matchup between Scott Jorgensen and Renan Barao.

Jorgensen, a WEC standout who challenged Dominick Cruz for the Bantamweight Championship in December of 2010, has won two straight in the UFC and hopes to work back to a title shot. Barao, meanwhile, hasn't lost a fight since his MMA debut back in 2005, and sits with a record of 27-1 with one no contest. In his last fight, he made his biggest impression to the UFC when he submitted another former WEC stand out - Brad Pickett - in the first round.

For Jorgensen, his sole focus is on getting back to a second shot at that Bantamweight Title; and despite the big record and the skills that Barao brings into the fight, Jorgensen says nothing's going to stand in his way.

"I'm coming in as a fully focused, ready-to-fight, non-stop ball of fun," Jorgensen said in an interview with Heavy.com. "I'm going in there chin buried and ready to fight. I have a saying before every single fight, and that's to take their heart and take their soul. I'm going to break him, get him tired – and then I'm going to finish him. I'm going to make him think about whether this was a fight he should've taken at this point in his career. I'm on a mission. I've had a taste of that UFC belt. I've fought for it once, and there is nothing that is going to stop me from fighting for it again and winning it."

"I think it's a great fight. Neither one of us are afraid to let our hands go and stay on our feet. We both have excellent ground games. His is a little more jiu-jitsu based, where mine is more wrestling. I think the equalizer will be that I can dictate where this fight takes place. He's never fought anyone with the type of wrestling I have, and I have a great knack for getting my opponents tired. Those types of things will change a fight quicker than anything."

Jorgensen's expecting this to be an immensely exciting fight, and with the style that both he and Barao employs, he's sure it's going to deliver. If that happens, and if the fight goes as he feels it will, he believes there'll be no choice for the UFC but to give him another shot at the belt.

"I definitely think this is a 'Fight of the Night' candidate," Jorgensen said. "I have two of them in the past, and I've consistently put on exciting fights. I know Barao's style is the same. It's going to come down to when pressure meets pressure, and that's when diamonds are made. It's going to be a war on Saturday night, and it's something I've been looking forward to since I first started preparing for this thing. It's going to be fun. It's going to be a fight, and we're going to go out there and open some eyes."

"With a performance that I'm proud of, and that would be a solid victory, there is no doubt in my mind I should be next in line for the title. Right now, my mind is fixed on fighting Barao and taking care of business. A win Saturday would be my third in a row, but those decisions are up to the UFC. I'd love to have a second shot at that belt, but first things first – I'm going to go out there and handle Barao."

Penick's Analysis: Jorgensen is a fantastic bantamweight fighter, and though he had a poor performance against Dominick Cruz, he's capable of raising his game to compete with the best of the best at 135 lbs. Barao is going to be the biggest test he'll have in the bantamweight division outside of a title fight, though, and it's going to be a very tough task to accomplish what he hopes to accomplish on Saturday night. Barao looked fantastic in his last fight against Pickett, and handled the British bantamweight with a level of ease that Jorgensen did not have in his own win over Pickett. This is a great fight, and the winner will establish themselves as one of the best choices to face the Cruz-Urijah Faber winner after TUF 15 this summer. If Jorgensen can pull off a career best performance, he just may get his second shot at the belt this year.