The Jorge Gurgel Conundrum

(George demonstrates the Dutch oven at one of his seminars)

Jorge Gurgel headlines tonight Strikeforce Challengers on Showtime against up-and-comer Billy Evangelista.  If you have seen any of Gurgels fights in the last four years you know him as a brawler who goes for broke in the cage.  What you may not know from just watching his fights is that he is a Jiu Jitsu instructor and Jiu Jitsu black belt that won his first five fights via submission.  Although Gurgel chooses to stand and bang like he is in a K-1 kickboxing contest, he does not have KO power, and has never finished an opponent via KO or TKO.  Although exciting to watch for the most part, if you know his strength is actually in submission fighting it can be a frustrating thing to watch him ignore the ground game completely in favor of the more crowd pleasing style that he has accustomed fight fans to.  Gurgel insistence on kickboxing has cost him fights on numerous occasions and the simple fact is that he has not finished a fight since 2005. If you are a Gurgel fan at all you know all too well that he will always give you your money's worth at a show, but may never realize his full potential as a Mixed Martial Artist due completely to his own propensity to put on a show. George Gurgel: A fight fans best friend, but his own worst enemy.