HIDDEN GEM ALERT: Dominick Cruz vs. Scott Jorgensen

Jorgensen and Cruz forces us to expand our “Hidden gem” qualifications; Promises to be explosive.

At MNL we have a tradition of picking out a fight that doesn’t stand out to the traditional fan, but still could possess tremendous entertainment value.  Typically we exclude title fights and marquee names but for this edition of MNL’s “Hidden Gem” we’re going to break tradition and talk about the bantamweight title fight featuring champion Dominick Cruz and challenger Scott Jorgensen.  In this matchup, more than just a title belt is at stake.  Two guys who have shown explosive strength in recent fights get a chance to close one promotion and open up a brand new weight class in another.

The beauty of little guys fighting is generally the lack of politics involved in the matchmaking.  These guys are fighting because they’ve earned the right.  With all due respect to Randy Couture and the UFC heavyweight division, neither of these guys is 47 years old or fighting a 42 year old crossover “athlete” who’s 50 lbs overweight.  There is zero novelty factor in this fight, they’re both just good, young  and violent.

Jorgensen, who sports a mohawk only Magua could love, suffers from a skin condition called “vitiligo” which causes inconsistency with the pigmentation of his skin and, combined with his awe-inspiring ‘hawk,  creates an aura of reckless unpredictability.  Cruz on the other hand, is a super-sized 145 lb fighter and brings with him one of the most respectable accomplishments in MMA today:  a 7 fight WEC win streak.

Often times in combat sports such as MMA, promoters get caught up in the size-over-substance.  Fans love the heavyweights even though the big boys frequently lack the skill sets and athleticism of the lighter fighters.  Using UFC 124’s co-main event, Stefan Struve vs Sean McCorkle, as an example neither one of these guys brought much to the table other than length and mass.  Struve has pretty good jiu-jitsu but certainly not elite level and it’s highly doubtful that if McCorkle was 170 instead of 270, he’d be challenging GSP for his belt.  He’s just big and fairly athletic.

At the weigh-ins Cruz looked like the substantially bigger fighter but at these lighter weights, the strength advantage is less of a factor.   Both guys are willing brawlers who swing with very bad intentions.  But more than the stylistic matchup of this fight, just marvel and the gas tanks these smaller guys lug around with them.  They simply do not tire out.  Ever.  They go and go and go.  The pace will be torrid and the action furious.

So enjoy WEC 53 tonight knowing it’s the last show for this promotion.  No longer will the WEC exist after tonight’s tilt which adds a bittersweet feel to what could the best card MMA has offered us this year.  While Cruz/Jorgensen is MNL’s choice for “Hidden Gem”, you could make a strong case for a number of different fights including Chris Horodecki/Donald Cerrone, Eddie Wineland/Ken Stone, Shane Roller/Jamie Varner, and Bart Palaszewski/Kamal Shalorus.   So sit back and enjoy watching the meanest Lilliputians on the planet getting after it tonight.