Wineland (photo via UFC.com)

By Kelsey Mowatt

When Eddie Wineland made his way over to the Ultimate Fighting Championship last year, the former WEC bantamweight champ did so armed with a four fight win streak and expectations of contending. Although he went on to drop unanimous decision losses to top ranked fighters in Urijah Faber and Joseph Benavidez, Wineland believes a victory over Scott Jorgensen on June 8th will reassure fans of his contender status.

“Jorgensen’s a relatively big name, and myself, if I’m a big name or not, I just do me and mind my own business,” said Wineland, while discussing what might be riding on his upcoming UFC on FOX 3 bout with Jorgensen (13-5). “I think a win over Jorgensen puts me right back in the hunt. I’m not here to fight guys that are just coming into the UFC.”

“I’ve been with the organization since 2006, I won the belt, and have been around for a long time,” the 27 year-old Wineland added. “ I think I’ve established myself and I think I’ve made it known that I should be fighting top competition, considering Urijah couldn’t finish me and Joseph couldn’t finish me.”

Jorgensen worked his way into a title fight with Dominick Cruz by winning five straight fights, before the former WEC and now UFC title holder scored a unanimous decision win over him in December, 2010. Since then, Jorgensen has gone 2-1, earning victories over Jeff Curran and Ken Stone, before losing by UD to Renan Pegado in February.

“When I talked to Sean (Shelby) he asked me ‘have you ever fought Jorgensen’ and I said ‘no,’” Wineland(18-8) recalled. “I actually think he was surprised that we hadn’t fought prior, since we’ve both established ourselves in the WEC and UFC. I just think that him and I was a match that was going to happen sooner or later, and June 8th happens to be that date.”

Not only is Wineland fighting another of the bantamweight division’s top fighters, once again he’s facing an experienced wrestler who has developed striking skills.

“Absolutely, I think he’s one and the same with Urijah and Benavidez,” said Wineland, while discussing the similarities that Jorgensen has with his last two opponents. “I’ve been training for the past two years for Faber and Joseph, so it’s not like I’m not ready for him.”

“I don’t think Scott’s afraid in any way to stand and trade with me,” added the Duneland Vale Tudo fighter, while discussing the strategies Jorgensen might employ. “I think he’s confident in his hands, and he hits hards. I think I’m more technical than he is and I think I’m faster than he is, so I think I might pop him a few times and he’s not going to like it. He has a good chin, but we’re going to find out how good it is once I put my hands on him.”

While the 29 year-old Jorgensen is a 3 time, Pac 10 wrestling champion, Wineland is quick to remind observers that he’s no stranger to the wrestling mats either.

“I think ultimately he’s going to resort back his wrestling, but people forget that I’ve been wrestling since I was six years old,” Wineland noted. “Urijah had a hell of a time taking me down, Jospeh couldn’t take me down, so there’s two of the top wrestlers in the division that struggled to do what they needed to do.”

So what does Wineland believe he needs to do differently to bring about a winning result against a fighter like Jorgensen?

“I need to get back to my WEC days and get back to being just relentless,” said Wineland, who recorded victories over Manny Tapia, George Roop, Will Campuzano and the aforementioned Stone before facing Faber. “I need to go back to my roots, become that brawler and just not really caring…fighting to win, not fighting to not lose. When you’re fighting to not lose you fight too tentative, when you fight to win you let it all hang out.”