As Jorge Gurgel (Pictures) cleared Customs and stepped into Canada, the first thing I noticed was that he was much bigger than I expected him to be. That and the purple hair.
With me at the Halifax International Airport was Scott MacLean, owner of Fitness Plus, the first Jorge Gurgel (Pictures) affiliated Brazilian jiu-jitsu club outside of the United States. I’d arranged to spend five days with him and Jorge with the goal of giving Sherdog readers a true insight and personal look at this popular fighter.
This was Jorge’s second time coming here to give seminars, and he and Scott greeted each other like old friends.
Only 40 minutes later, Jorge stepped onto the mat and started sharing his jiu-jitsu knowledge with several dozen eager students who had come from all over the province of Nova Scotia to learn from the BJJ black belt.
If you’ve ever seen him on an episode of The Ultimate Fighter, you’ve got a good idea of what he’s like in real life. His movements flow quickly to match his words, punctuating them with rapid hand gestures.
For three hours everyone there paid rapt attention as Jorge imparted a small part of the martial knowledge he’s spent half of his life acquiring.
The seminar was scheduled for two and a half hours, but Jorge made everyone aware that he was there for as long as anyone wanted to learn, and most students were more than happy to take him up on his offer.
Afterwards, by virtue of having my camera with me, I was wrangled into taking group and individual photos. A little more relaxed now that he was out of the Instructor role, Jorge was boisterous and seemed genuinely happy to be there and meet old friends and new acquaintances alike.
Later that evening I joined Jorge, Scott, and a half dozen of the guys from the club for a night on the town. We all met at Peddler’s Pub, a popular joint known for its drink specials and good-looking college girls.
Immediately upon arrival I was to see what would be a recurring theme that night. Jorge surrounded by teenage guys asking him about his recent fight with Mark Hominick (Pictures). Yes, I said teenage; the legal drinking age here is 19.
Jorge answered all their questions with a smile on his face, eliciting laughs as he pretended to chase after a running opponent. As fans come and go, it doesn’t take me long to realize that when talking about that fight, Jorge has developed a script, phrases and movements that he uses over and over.
I ask him how often he gets asked about the Hominick fight. He sighed, “All the time man.”
When I had been invited to come out that evening, I wasn’t sure if I should accept. I did want to see how Jorge interacted with the public, but I also wanted to be aloof and stay objective. In the end I decided to accept, with self-imposed restrictions to stay on the sidelines and to abstain from drinking.
So later on in the VIP room at mega-club “The Palace,” it was a little surprising to find myself spending most of my time with Jorge, water bottles in our hands, as the rest of the young guys spent their time doing shots and dancing on tables.
“This isn’t really for me man,” he said, as the music surged and the crowd of important people flowed past us.
“So why did you come out then?”
“Because the guys wanted to show me the town, I couldn’t disappoint them.”
The next day was the gi seminar. Jorge is a hands-on Instructor, and everyone said that when rolling with him they knew that he was in complete control the whole time. Purple belt TJ Grant (Pictures), a young 2-0 fighter with little local competition, told me that he was amazed at how Jorge controlled him on the floor.
The seminar was only two days, but Jorge had planned to stay for five, almost a little vacation for him.
“I told Scottie that all I wanted to do was train and relax.”
The next day Jorge led the regular Monday night class, at the end of which he awarded blue belts to Nick Webber and Richard Kanasevich. After the traditional belt-slap gauntlet I asked them if the pain and raw red backs were worth it. They answered in unison, “Hell yeah!”
Tuesday was the day that Jorge and I had arranged to sit down for an actual interview. It was a beautiful sunny summer day, so I picked him up and we headed back downtown to the patio of the Argyle where we could talk and eat at the same time.