John Albert: Scott Jorgensen Shouldn’t Want Ground Fight at UFC on Fox 5

Ahead of the fight, Albert joined the Sherdog Radio Network’s “Beatdown” show to discuss his opponent and much more.

On whether he sees this fight as ‘do or die’ because he’s coming off two losses: “No, because I don’t try to look at fighting as that, because I love the sport. I love to fight. My effort is to just fight at 100 percent and give it my all. If I’m always focusing on whether I’m going to lose my job or lose this fight, it’s going to take away from my ability to fight my best, I believe. I don’t think it’s going to elevate my game thinking, ‘Oh my God, I have to win,’ because every fight you have to win. Every fight I want to win. There’s no doubt. There’s no fight where I’m like, ‘Nah, I’m OK if I lose this one.’ Every fight I want to win regardless of whether my back’s against the wall or not.”

On Jorgensen: “I was the guy watching, training as an amateur, even before, watching him in the WEC, and just thinking, ‘Wow, that guy’s a beast. That’s so great of him: He’s helping pioneer the sport for little guys.’ ... Being able to see how tough he is, I see what kind of fighter he is. I think it’s exciting to be able to fight tough guys because that’s what I want: I want to fight the best guys and prove that I’m the best. You can only do that by beating the best guys, and Scott’s one of them.”

On Jorgensen’s recent losses: “Who has he lost to? He’s lost to two of the best guys in the bantamweight division, and one was a decision and another one was his very first knockout loss. ... Yeah, he’s got two in a row, but he’s got two in a row to the best guys. ... I believe he’s top 10. That’s how I’m looking at this fight, that this win is really going to help propel my career and my ranking.”

On stopping Jorgensen’s takedowns: “That’s something I’ve been practicing quite a bit. I’ve never really been taken down by somebody when I’m standing in front of them, with a shot. You saw with Ivan [Menjivar], it was because I clinched with him and got the double underhooks and he threw a head-and-arm. I’ve never had a problem with someone coming in on me really because I get my base low and I see those shots coming in. We’ve come up with a good game plan to not just stand in front of him. I’m still going to be aggressive, but I’m going to come at him at all angles so it makes it hard for him to take that shot. I’m working a lot of things that, if he takes me down, I’m going to get right back up and frustrate him.”

On whether Jorgensen should even want to be on top on the ground: “If he was smart, you would think he would fall back on his high-caliber wrestling, but if you study me and my fights, I attack really well from my back. I’m not complacent being on my back, which a lot of guys are, where they want to hold overhooks or they’re not really working to get up. I’m always going to be consistently attacking him and he’s not going to want to be in that position with me.”

Listen to the full interview (beginning at 1:29:31).