Cruz Loss Fueled Jorgensen’s KO of Stone

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Plenty of fighters make use of ground-and-pound, but not all of them pack the kind of power or technique it takes to put away opponents from inside their guard.

Scott Jorgensen does. At “The Ultimate Fighter 13” Finale on June 4, he showed how much damage he can do on the ground by blasting through Ken Stone’s guard with a right hand. He followed up with a few additional punches for the knockout 4:01 into the first round.

“Not everybody is willing to take risks and throw big punches,” Jorgensen said recently on the Sherdog Radio Network’s “Beatdown” show. “Me personally, if I put you down, I’m trying to find a way to hurt you.”

Some fighters are more conservative than others, but even for those who fight aggressively, it’s not always easy to generate power in someone’s guard.

“I think it’s just the way that I’ve trained,” Jorgensen explained. “It’s not something that I’ve stumbled across. I do train a lot on my ground-and-pound … . I think it’s a combination of the technique and just wanting to hit hard from there and knowing that one nice, hard punch could shorten my night, save me a lot of work.”

Against Stone, Jorgensen was also looking to bounce back from losing a December 2010 bantamweight title shot against Dominick Cruz. He had won five straight before that defeat, but he still fought with a sense of urgency against Stone.

“I felt like my back was against the wall after my fight with Dominick [Cruz], not necessarily with contracts being cut or anything like that, but just I needed that win and I was going to do whatever it took to win,” Jorgensen said. “I noticed earlier in the fight when I was throwing on my feet with Ken, that I was throwing a lot harder than I anticipated. I was trying to throw and put a hole through his head.”

Evidently, the loss to Cruz still stings.

“I fought like absolute crap against Dominick,” Jorgensen said. “I didn’t feel like myself fight week. My mentality wasn’t there. Not in the sense that I was awestruck from the magnitude of the fight or it was the belt -- I just didn’t go in there with the same mindset I had five fights before, which was fight my ass off, earn my victory and everything will work out. I went in there thinking I could win with something lucky, just catching him. … I made a big apology after my fight with Dominick via Twitter and [now I’m] just telling people that I’m back. I’m back to being me. I’m having fun again.”

As for what’s next, Jorgensen has his eye on the title Cruz still holds and is defending July 2 against Urijah Faber.

“I told [the UFC] I want whatever’s going to get me back to that belt as quick as possible,” Jorgensen said. “They know I want it. I know what I gotta do, and that’s just win and fight how I did against Ken. If Urijah’s holding that belt or Dominick’s holding that belt or anybody else, it doesn’t matter. I’m going to fight them for it.”

Listen to the full interview (beginning at 38:30).