Jordan Young: Exciting at All Costs

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In a sport simultaneously frozen and turned upside down by the coronavirus, Jordan Young finds himself exactly where he wants to be.

When COVID-19 gripped the world early this year, bringing sports to a grinding halt, fighters and promotions alike were thrust into a new reality. One by one, big as well as small organizations cancelled or postponed events, and even as shows have started back up, promoters must deal with a pool of fighters who may face difficulties traveling, or passing pre-event virus screenings. Meanwhile, fighters were forced to deal with government-mandated lockdowns, gym closures and all sorts of new precautions intended to stem the spread of the virus. Young considers himself fortunate to be in South Florida and at American Top Team, a gym that despite its size has had excellent results getting its fighters back into training safely. There was also unexpected boon: because he was still in recovery from hip surgery, his physical therapy sessions with Dr. Christiana Marron were allowed to continue.

“I’ve been in South Florida year-round for about four years now,” the 25-year-old native Iowan said. “When the virus first hit and everything was closed down including ATT, I had to adapt. Luckily, I still had my strength and conditioning with my physical therapist, but as far as actual skill training, I had to get creative. I had to go outside and use this field near my house. Thankfully, American Top Team and [owner] Dan Lambert pretty quickly got us coronavirus testing, and the top pro fighters were able to get back into the gym in small groups to start training again. They took really good care of us, and if you look at some of the cards that have been going on, there are a lot of ATT fighters on there.”

While it is true that his team has been well represented in MMA’s post-pandemic return, Young himself is not among them. The 11-1 light heavyweight was a high-profile signing for the 2020 Professional Fighters League season, and is featured in their "Prep Point" video series that premieres this Thursday at 10 a.m. ET. At the time of his signing, Young was vocal about his excitement to move on from Bellator MMA and start fighting for his new promotion, but watched the entire 2020 PFL season be canceled a few months later. Even though Bellator is back to putting on shows, while the PFL 2021 season won’t start until spring, Young has no regret over the move.

“Communication is key,” Young said. “It’s key in every relationship, whether personal or business. The communication I’ve had with PFL has been outstanding. Even though they’ve canceled the season, they’ve been in contact, they’ve been easy to reach, they’ve done a great job getting me in touch with media and they’ve done a great job on their own social media of getting me in front of their fans, even though I haven’t competed for them yet. It makes me excited to fight for them, so I can get some highlights under that banner. So far, though, it’s been pleasantly surprising.”

For now, Young has a clear view of what is next, professionally: the 2021 PFL season, specifically a light heavyweight division that is still coming into focus. While the obvious hook of Professional Fighters League is the million-dollar purse awaiting each divisional champion—and Young clearly has his eye on that loot—he sounds excited to get back in the cage and show what he can do more than anything else. For Young, an aggressive grappler who counts nine submissions among his 11 career wins, that includes entertaining the masses. He is aware of the observed phenomenon in PFL’s first two seasons, where the regular seasons have been packed with sensational finishes, but the playoffs have often rewarded fighters with grinding styles and more conservative game plans. Surprisingly, Young stops short of condemning those fighters.

“I think in some cases, guys that are playing it safe, they might just be fighting not to lose,” he said. “But they’re also in a tournament and they’re trying to make sure they stay healthy, not risking something that makes it so they can’t move on. And hugging someone for a couple rounds is a way to do that.” Having said that, Young laughs off the idea that he might fall victim to that conservatism, or that it is even a choice. He only knows one way to fight: kill or be killed.

“[Hugging someone] is not something I’m really capable of doing. Even guys who want to do that to me, my style is to break that, create space and either get up and put hands and feet on your body, or…well, not elbows. We can’t elbow in PFL,” he corrects himself with a laugh. “But my style is going to be exciting no matter what.”

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Stand Up Guy In The @americantopteam Mafia I been In The Gym 1 phone call & Ima Prove a Point @pflmma

A post shared by Jordan Young (@jay185) on Aug 6, 2020 at 10:02am PDT