Jordan Young thankful for extra time before PFL debut, ready to flip the switch upon return

Newly signed PFL light heavyweight Jordan Young isn’t letting the promotion’s self-imposed COVID-19 hiatus frustrate him. In fact, he says it’s only going to benefit him when he starts the long run-up to his promotional debut.

Former Bellator athlete Young (11-1) was all set to make his debut in the PFL’s 2020 light heavyweight season, but the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic led to the promotion scrapping this year’s season and placing their roster on hiatus until competition resumes in 2021.

But while some members of the PFL roster have expressed frustration at the enforced time on the sidelines, Young isn’t too upset by it. The 25-year-old suffered a torn hip last year and fought through the pain in his final fight on the Bellator roster. That bout ended in his first career loss and convinced him to go under the knife to fix the problem.

Now fully recovered from his surgery, Young is using the extended downtime of the now-defunct 2020 season to get himself back to peak fitness ahead of his promotional debut next year.

“The way I’ve been describing it as bittersweet – it’s a bittersweet thing,” he told MMA Junkie Radio. “I’m young and I have goals, so I want to get out there and compete. I’m not going to say that I wasn’t ready, but I’m going to say that I definitely am thankful for the extra time that I’ve had. My first fight would have been in May, and I would have been ready to go. But I don’t know how I would have held up after the fight if, let’s say, it would have been a tough fight or something like that. Now, with these extra months, I know for a fact that I’m locked in and now I’m ready for any situation – whether that be an easier fight or a tougher fight on my body.”

Young’s cool, calm demeanor during a time when he’s unable to fight and earn his living offers a stark contrast to the high-octane approach many fighters take to interviews when they’re gearing up for a fight. Young says he’s happy to keep things chilled and show people his real-life personality for now. But, when it’s time to put his game face on, he’ll be ready to turn things up to 11.

“It’s just a little early for that,” he said.“ I don’t know when the next event’s going to be. As far as I know, (it’ll be) April, May next year. So it’s such a long time I feel I would be wasting a little bit of energy if I put out that energy too early. 

“I’ve just been trying to keep a nice cool, calm, level head and show people my personality. When it comes to the sport, it’s war for me. It’s kill or be killed, so that changes my personality a little bit and we have a little bit more aggression, a little bit more (expletive)-talking, if you will. And I just want to go out there and be competitive, interest the fans in my fights, and get to the money.”