Comments on: Jorge Gurgel released from UFC; signs with Strikeforce

By: Echolocating

Echolocating — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 07:34:59 +0000

I can’t say that I’ll miss him, but I hope he does well with Strikeforce. As Sam Caplan pointed out, there was a method to his madness, but it only proved to irritate the more serious MMA fans. I hope we get to see a more versatile fighter in Jorge with his Strikeforce debut, but I’m not holding my breath.

By: screwface

screwface — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 23:10:09 +0000

ocd said it best. gurgel shouldve been cut long time ago, his friendship with franklin was the only thing keeping him around imo. all this talk of his superior bjj, couldve,shouldve,wouldve is all nonsense. if the guy knew how to win he wouldve won, plain and simple. gurgel is a decent minor league fighter but the ufc is the big leagues. he is now where he belongs. maybe in strikeforce he can rise to gatekeeper status at best, but no way a potential belt holder. his season of tuf he was the 1 little guy with the biggest mouth, and he who talks the loudest says the least. maybe if he showed himself more humble on tuf i would have a little more respect for him, but im glad he was finally cut, cya, wouldnt wanna b-ya :p

By: OCD

OCD — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 21:50:22 +0000

I’ll be the first to say here. Just because Gurgel is a BJJ black belt does not mean he is superman on the ground. Yes, he could submit all of us. However, there are MANY black belts out there who get submitted because their black belts were earned under coaches, who themselves, may be suspect and controversial, such as Aurelio.

Gurgel is a low B-class fighter at best. He was in the UFC because of Franklin and TUF. Franklin is no longer on top, his TUF season is well in the past, and thus, the UFC has very little motivation to keep him. Politics matters as much as talent in the UFC.

By: Levi

Levi — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 21:10:36 +0000

Gurgel’s thinking was short-sighted. Win 60k today and lose out on the opportunities in the future.

By: mike wolfe

mike wolfe — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 20:50:52 +0000

Maybe I’m missing the subtleties of Gurgel’s strategy, but I thought the point of a fight was to win, not look good while the other guy kicks your ass. Win often enough and the paydays will come along.

By: Guinness

Guinness — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 19:20:56 +0000

David I completely agree, and more than anything I would love to see him working takedowns and some BJJ on the ground. I am always tickled watching a great ground game.
My feelings however are that the average fan who does not post on an mma website probably doesn’t feel the same way. The ground game is just not as marketable at this time in mma’s development. Hardcore, and even semi-hardcore fans love to see it. Practitioners of the sport love to see it. And while I hate to stereotype the average mma fan, it is my opinion that the lay mma watcher does not, or at least not as much as they would like to see a standup war.
As Sam pointed out above it all comes down to dollars in the end. More exciting fights for the casual fan means more ppv buys, more merchandise, more sponsorships, etc.
I believe that Gurgel’s ultimate goal was to make as much money as he could, and while it is true that FOTN and Sub bonuses are equal, when it comes to negotiating your UFC contract, your sponsorship deals, attracting newcomers to your gym, etc. it is much a situation of your popularity. And really, how much talk would there have been of Gurgel over the last few weeks if he had pulled guard and managed a sub in round 1. Going against the grain is working for him and leaving an impression on new mma fans that he is a warrior who is not afraid to go toe to toe with anyone. These are the kinds of guys who new fans love to get behind (think Griffin v Bonnar).

By: mburtoni

mburtoni — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 17:53:59 +0000

It’s not like Gurgel has “average” Brazilian jiu jitsu. He has his own academy, and is the one who recently awarded Dustin Hazelett his black belt. With a BJJ resume like that, there is no reason why Gurgel should try to stand and bang with everyone he faces. An intelligent gameplan dictates that you should try to use your strengths against your opponent’s weaknesses. There is no way that Cole Miller had better BJJ than Gurgel. Gurgel probably could have had a 1st round sub if he came in with a great gameplan and stuck to it. I don’t know why his friends (ie. Rich Franklin) let him get away with doing that. I hope he becomes a smarter fighter in Strikeforce and earns his way back into the UFC.

By: Robert

Robert — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 17:35:19 +0000

People always say Gurgel should have used his BJJ more but they fail to mention Gurgel’s wrestling is not good by any stretch it’s tough to use your jui-jitsu skills if you can’t take someone down and your opponent has no intentions of making it a ground fight.Gurgel isn’t a bad fighter at all but I had to laugh when I read someone say Thomson has competition now because Gurgel is not in Josh’s league at all.

By: David Andrest

David Andrest — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 17:28:50 +0000

Guinness, I don’t know. From the comments about Gurgel over the last few fights, it appears the growing theme is ” why won’t he go to the ground” . If his students are an indication of their teacher, he would have a very exciting ground game. Franklin, Hazlett ect…..are always MONEY on the ground.

He had a good run in the UFC, I wouldn’t count him out for coming back taking a last minute fight in the future.

By: Guinness

Guinness — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 17:09:15 +0000

Sam, I believe in an article you wrote on Nov. 17 that it was indicated that Gurgel was paid 10K to show, and would have received another 10K had he won. Not really win the lottery kind of money, but 250% more than what you had listed in your comments here.
Gurgel is an incredibly well rounded fighter and I believe that he is playing his game to the time. That is to say that at this point in the development of mma, standup wars are generally regarded as more exciting to the casual fan. People didn’t tune in to see Kimbo Slice try to sub someone. They tuned in to see big punches and guys going all out trying to knock each other out.
Gurgel may have felt that his best route back to main card status was to put on what is considered to be an exciting fight. Can’t blame him for that. Main card status means a boatload more cash in sponsorship deals. Being thought of as a guy who goes in to “wars” every time he steps in to the ring develops fans and in turn more sponsorship money.
Gurgel has played to the fans as best he could. Unfortunately at the top level of mma, his greatest strengths are not those which tend to excite the casual fan (read the bread and butter of the industry). It is a pity perhaps. Hopefully those in the industry like Mr. Caplan will do more to educate the casual fan on the intricacies of BJJ and the like instead lauding a world class ground fighter for losing.

By: Louis

Louis — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 17:08:55 +0000

This was a LONG time coming, this guy has been hit in the head far too many times because he refuses to use his superior BJJ skills to win a fight…..I am so happy I never have to watch him in the octagon again because he thinks his standup makes for an exciting fight but he is way out of his league in striking and is so frustrating to watch knowing that he has pretty good skill on the ground. Another point that may seem shallow is EDIT: Louis thank you for participating, however please refrain from personal attacks

By: Barry

Barry — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 16:27:20 +0000

kinda funny how he gets a 60k bonus for fight of the night then gets cut.

By: steve

steve — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 16:06:19 +0000

cant say im surprised at all. at least Thomson will have some competition now.

By: Cash

Cash — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 15:57:12 +0000

I wouldn’t be shocked to find out Joe Silva called Scott Coker prior to even calling Gurgel. Like many in this thread, Gurgel is a guy we may want to like, but he makes it so damn hard. We think he has this amazing BJJ game, his students indicate he may be pretty darn good on the ground, but he just seems to hard headed to show it.

Kobe may be a hell of a Poker player, but I’d much rather watch him play basketball, even if he does win an occasional big pot.

By: ACK!

ACK! — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 15:55:46 +0000

As much as we may hate to admit it, MMA is more entertainment than sport at this point in time. Putting on a good show is tantamount to winning and that’s how it’s gonna be. As a fan, I can’t really argue with that. Who wants to watch boring fighters win?

I’m not saying that Jorge would put on boring shows if he used his BJJ, but give the guy some credit. Most fighters don’t last 7 fights in the UFC, so he was obviously doing something right.

By: Bear

Bear — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 15:43:51 +0000

I guess that I would have to agree with Sam if Jurgel would have won more fights then lost. Sure you need to be exciting but you also need to win. Sub of the night pays the same as FOTN so why not go for some slick submissions?

And anyone that watched Maia/McDonald will tell you that a slick submission game is just as nice to watch as two guys standing windmilling their arms.

Jurgel should have used more BJJ. Glad he found work but not too sad to see him go. After watching him on TUF I really didn’t like his attitude and being thick headed.

By: MasterZero

MasterZero — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 15:29:46 +0000

Don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out Jorge. In Strikeforce, try to remember to use some Jitz instead of trading on the feet en route to a unanimous decision loss.

By: greg

greg — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 15:14:29 +0000

sounds to me like dana and george had this planned out….”he signed a new contract minutes later”….so i take it theres no hard feelings

By: Frank Mur

Frank Mur — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 14:53:14 +0000

Sam, I am sure that had Gurgel used his BJJ more his record would have been better and his odds of capturing sub of the night would have been as good as winning fight of the night. This is MMA, if every great wrestler and BJJ practitioner tried to stand and trade in an attempt to get FOTN the game would not be the stylelistic chessmatch that it is.

By: Nick

Nick — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 14:40:44 +0000

wow the grammar of my first line was horrid