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They say "those who can't do, teach" but don't tell that to UFC lightweight Jorge Gurgel. Sure he trains/coaches several well known fighters including former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin and runs a highly successful MMA/Brazilian Jiu Jitsu school, but Gurgel can walk the walk as well. He heads into this Saturday's UFC 84: Jackson vs. Griffin event with a 16-3 record and fresh off a unanimous decision win over John Halverson. Yet Gurgel believes there's still room for improvement and has temporarily given up his duties as a trainer/coach, to become a student under world renowned trainer Matt Hume at Kirkland's American Martial Arts Center. I recently had the chance to catch up with Gurgel to talk about a wide range of topics including his training and why the UFC is becoming watered down.

TK: How has training been going? How long have you been in Seattle?
JG: I've been in Seattle for 6 weeks. It's been the best training camp I've ever had, by far. I've always been everyone else's coach and people who follow my career know I'm a teacher. I have 13 schools around the country including the main one in Cincinnati with Rich Franklin and a handful of other UFC fighters. I've always felt like everyone's had their very own Jorge, their own trainer, their own mentor to tell them what to do and I've never had my own. So I've really performed very sub par in my last five fights and I needed some change. So I figured if I was going to make a change, I might as well look for the best guy in the business and the best guy is Matt Hume. He's probably not as well known in the US, but the veterans of the sport, who've followed it for a long time know Matt Hume. I've never seen anyone like him. I can truly say he can walk into the UFC right now, either in the welterweight division or the lightweight division and pretty much tear everyone up, he's mean.

TK: Is this your first time training with Matt Hume?
JG: No, he came to Wyoming right before me and Rich fought in UFC 77, but he was basically just training Rich and not training me. Rich was very impressed, he lost to Anderson Silva, but not due to the training. Matt only had two weeks to train with him, but we were very impressed and decided to make it longer. Rich then came out here to prepare for the Travis Lutter fight. Then for me, I had to make a decision for training and was considering Mark Dellagrotte's school in Boston when Matt took my planner out of my hand and immediately told me "you're off here, you start training here" and "stay in Seattle from here to here" and that's what I needed, someone to tell me what to do.

TK: Thoughts on your upcoming opponent Cole Miller?
JG: I like the kid personally and have known him for many years. He's a solid fighter, he really likes the sport and is in it for the right reasons. He's got good Brazilian Jiu Jitsu skills, he's a decent boxer, very tall and lanky for the weight class. He's a very worthy opponent and probably one of the best I've fought so far.

TK: You say you've had sub par performances, but you won your last fight via decision....
JG: (Interrupts) Decisions are already considered sub par automatically.

TK: Ok, obviously finishing fights is very important to you. Without giving away too much information, how do you plan to finish Cole?
JG: I'll just say that I won't let Matt down. His idea is to walk in there and destroy the opponent. So my game plan is to just finish the fight. I've never really had a game plan before. I'd just go in there, throw hands and go crazy. This time, I'm a completely different animal, I have a game plan, I'm going to follow it and not allow this fight to go to a decision. I can't tell you too much about it, but for the first time in my career I have a game plan and will follow it. I hope it works, I'm not sure yet.

TK: You're known as a great fight coach, who helps both big name guys (like Rich and Dustin Hazelett) as well as dozens of local guys back in Ohio, how do you balance being a great coach and trying to be a great fighter?
JG: My stepdad used to always say, "Jorge you can't do both. There's going to come a time when the sport is going to so developed, you can't do both well." However, I've always tried to model myself after Renzo Gracie (legendary BJJ practitioner/fighter/teacher). I wanted to have a school, build a foundation where I can continue to work on my skills and maintain my level, but at the same time, be able to step away 2 months before a fight and focus on myself. It was hard for the first time, to sit 15 pro fighters down and tell them I need this for myself, it's my time to shine and that I needed to improve. But they were all very supportive. Rich actually took over for me while I've been gone and has been running the pro practices. I get calls all the time from my students back home saying everything is okay and not to worry. It's working out for me and I'm so happy to be here, just being a student again. I'm just a fish and not the big fish in the little pond anymore. After practice here, I'm the one cleaning the mats and it's great. I don't have to teach anybody, worry about anybody, walk around correcting people, or answering questions. When I'm at home, it's hard to focus. I get probably 60 calls a day, but being here it's simple. Matt tells me to "do this" or "do that" and I'm just a student. I think my improvement over the last 6 weeks has been very drastic and I don't think that could've happened in Ohio. Here, I only have time to eat, sleep and train. I haven't had this ever before.

TK: Being a fighter also means you're an entertainer. How do you balance trying to entertain the crowd and being exciting, with being a smart competitor and just trying to win?
JG: That's an interesting question especially because of the timing. Right now, many fighters are concerned about being cut. The UFC made 50 cuts last month and they said by the end of July, they'll have made 50 more. Dana White is actually giving a speech to the fighters saying "don't worry, if you come in and fight hard, I'm not going to cut you." Everybody wants to entertain and win, but during the heat of the moment, you just care about winning and about not getting your *expletive* kicked. It's not about being flashy or wanting that highlight reel KO, it's about doing what it takes to win. People think I'm trying to put on a show by throwing hands and getting hit instead of taking people down and quickly finishing them. I do that because I have fun, not because I'm trying to be flashy. But that also makes my fights last a lot longer than they're supposed to. My coaches, everyone always asks "why do you do that?! just take him down and submit him." It's because I have so much fun standing up, I get caught up in the heat of the moment, ignore my corner and end up in slugfests every time. Not because I necessarily want to, but because that's just how my body reacts and that's what Matt's changing.

TK: You've been involved in MMA for a long time, can you talk about some of the biggest changes that have happened since you started out?
JG: You've hit kind of a bitter spot. Change has been good and at the same time, it's been horrible. It's become a trend, partly because of the Ultimate Fighter. Everyone now wants to be a fighter. When me and Rich started, we were making $100 when no one wanted to watch it. The honor and the concepts of the sport, the reasons why we started, have been lost. We used to fight to just honor our sensei (teacher), represent our teams, represent our sports and test ourselves. We fought because it was the hardest thing we could do and we really wanted to test how far we could push ourselves as athletes and as human beings. It's not like that anymore. It's a trend that everyone now follows. I bet if you walked around and told people you're an MMA writer, people would say "oh yeah my friend, my brother, my cousin does that stuff too." Most new guys do it for chicks and for autographs, which are the wrong reasons. It's extremely frustrating from a coach's standpoint, to see my sport get diluted like that and turned into crap. On one hand, the popularity gave me and other coaches with schools, the opportunity to have a good lifestyle, to drive the car that I drive and live in the house that I live in. Yes it's provided financial stability and helped our business get big, but the values, the dignity, the honor of the sport have turned to *expletive* and that really breaks my heart. The next time I'll try to teach the values of MMA, is when I have kids because right now, it's not worth it.

TK: Are those values something you stress in your students?
JG: I have my core of 15-20 guys that I've trained for the last 8 years, that I've taught everything I know. Jiu Jitsu made me what I am today. From age 15 on, that's all I've been doing. It's shaped my attitude, who I am, how I live my life, how I eat, everything is because of martial arts. I did pass these things onto my students, but that's when I had 20 or 25. Now, I have 400 so I can't really do that now because they won't understand it. Most just want to make money and be able to pick up chicks at the bar. I feel I've taught the people who are worth teaching and worth my time. Now I don't really bother trying to pass those values on anymore unless I see someone exceptional. In general though, the sport has gone down a nasty, diluted road from where it started.

TK: If you were in charge of MMA, what would you change or do to make it better?
JG: I would definitely reduce the number of shows. It's currently so oversaturated I don't even know all the fights on my card. There's a UFC pay per view every month, sometimes even twice a month and that's too much. Everything that rises that fast also crashes just as fast and I think the market is just oversaturated right now. That could get me fired, so be careful how you word that. How many times do you watch the UFC and they put out some guy and you say "who the *expletive* is that guy?" There are just too many of those guys. They need to cut down and focus on their stars so people who tune in, get to see their favorite fighters and not just some random fights.

TK: What's harder for you to do, corner a fighter or fight yourself?
JG: Cornering because I'm having too much fun fighting. When I'm fighting, I am very sure of what I'm doing. When I'm cornering I'm worried that my guy is going to give me a heart attack. I'm nervous, but I have to act calm because that's not what a good cornerman is supposed to do, but I'm not in control when I'm cornering and I'm a control freak.

TK: What do you do in your free time?
JG: I play guitar.

TK: A real guitar or the guitar hero video game?
JG: The real guitar, come on! I don't play any video games. I play guitar, Rich plays drums and we jam around a little bit. I love to travel which is good since I travel around a lot. Between doing seminars, appearances, shows and signings, I'm on the road a lot, but I enjoy it. I don't have that much time to pick a hobby or something to do on a regular basis. If I'm not teaching, I'm training, and that's the life I chose so no complaints.

TK: Quick picks for the upcoming fights. First up, your friend and mentor Marcus Aurelio vs. Tyson Griffin.
JG: Marcus, no doubt.

TK: Josh Koscheck vs. Chris Lytle?
JG: I'd like to see Lytle win, but I don't know and I'm not going to make a pick. I'd like to see Lytle win because I like him.

TK: Joe Stevenson vs. Gleison Tibau
JG: Stevenson

TK: Ricardo Almeida vs. Patrick Cote?
JG: Almeida

TK: Rampage Jackson vs. Forrest Griffin?
JG: I can't pick one. They're both my friends.

TK: How do you separate being friends with everyone and potentially having to fight against them?
JG: It's easy because their are so many lightweights out there so the chances for me fighting someone like Marcus, or Hermes Franca or Rich Clementi are small. I would never fight Marcus, he's my teacher. Those are the values I was telling you abut earlier, we just don't fight our senseis. I'm friends with everyone in the UFC, but I try to be friends mostly with the welterweights and above. I'm cool with the lightweights too, but eventually we may have to clash heads.

TK: That's all the questions I have, anything you want to add?
JG: I want to thank AMC in Seattle, it's been a life changing experience for me and especially to thank Matt Hume.

For more information about Jorge Gurgel, please visit http://www.ohiomma.com/ and http://www.jorgegurgel.com