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(Orem) - Former BYU defensive end Jan Jorgensen is known for crushing quarterbacks. Now he is crushing fighters in the cage. The MWC all-time sack leader has made a successful transition from football to mixed martial arts. Jorgensen defeated Jeff Prescott by tapout at 1:33 in the first round on Saturday night's Showdown Fights in Orem.
"He caught me with one and I just said to myself, you know, I'm gonna take it to my world where I know I'm a lot better than he is," Jorgensen said after the victory.
The win moves his amateur fight record to 3-0 and as the Helper native works toward taking his career to the next level. Jan hopes to follow in the footsteps of local mixed martial artists like Court McGee, DaMarques Johnson, Josh Burkman and others who have fought in the UFC.
"I'm doing this for real," says Jan. "I'm serious about this and I'm not doing it just to go pro, just to make money. I want to go to the top. I want to make the UFC."
Jan plans to fight in a couple more amateur fights before making a move to the next level. With each fight his confidence continues to grow.
"This was the most calm I've ever been in the cage," he says. "I felt a lot better than previous fights. As soon as my coach says I'm ready I'll do it."
Jorgensen is just another example of the rapid growth in the sport of mixed martial arts in Utah. He believes the popularity of MMA in this state will continue to grow.
"I love what is going on locally with MMA," he says. "There is a number of guys from the state that are competing at the highest level and there's just more coming up because of how excited this state is about MMA and I think it's awesome."
Email: jjensen@ksl.com
Twitter: @JJSportsBeat
