As he progressed, Jordan was able to overwhelm lower-level foes with the same blend of strength and athleticism that so impressed his football coaches once upon a time. In his college weightlifting heyday, Jordan set LSU records for the bench press, clean and split jerk. Tommy Moffitt, the school’s strength and conditioning coach, keeps a video of Jordan bench pressing 455, 495 and 545 pounds in succession during a single workout.
Jordan and Moffitt formed a strong bond during his recruiting process because both men shared a background in wrestling, and Jordan’s superhuman weight room work only further endeared him to the coach. Interestingly enough, Moffitt’s bio on the LSU website mentions that karate routines are included in his strength and conditioning program.
However, Moffitt told Sherdog.com he put a halt to the martial arts training after the 2005 Peach Bowl, where his team engaged in a post-game brawl with University of Miami players in one of the field exit tunnels. Whether or not the skirmish was directly related to the training, Moffitt was not taking any chances.
“It was pretty bad. I figured that we’d stop that,” he said. “It got out of hand, so maybe it worked too good.”
Despite his interest in the combat arts, Moffitt had no idea Jordan would eventually end up in the Octagon.
“I thought he was gonna play professional football,” the coach said. “I never thought that he would have done that. I thought he would play pro football or be a doctor because he’s a really bright kid. When he started doing it, I knew he would do well.”
Jordan relies on more than brute strength to be effective in his current occupation. Though he describes himself and his three brothers, two of whom also played football collegiately, as “big ogres,” Jordan is well-rounded. He can dunk a basketball and, as MMA fans are well aware, execute a backflip in the center of the Octagon. Additionally, his mother was an Olympic-level swimmer. However, since he was surrounded by a horde of future NFL draft picks in college, Jordan is not overly impressed with his gifts. With teammates such as LeRon Landry, Matt Flynn, Glenn Dorsey, Jacob Hester and Dwayne Bowe rubbing shoulders him during his tenure at LSU, it is easy to understand why.
“It’s so hard to gauge who the best athlete was on the team because everybody can do so many things,” Jordan said. “All of us dunk basketballs. We’d go out there and play pickup games and beat the LSU basketball team. Everybody has so much ability and so much kinetic movement.”
Jordan’s prodigious talents were called into question after his sophomore year. Like many young El Paso natives, Jordan made trips across the border to Mexico with regularity. In May 2005, he was arrested for possession of a controlled substance and allegedly attempting to transport steroids from Juarez into El Paso. According to various reports, 20 milliliters of stanozolol and 10 milliliters of dromostanolone were found in vials in Jordan’s vehicle by U.S. Customs and Border agents. Jordan was placed on active suspension by LSU head coach Les Miles, but the case was eventually thrown out of court and Jordan rejoined the team. Still, Jordan, who claims the steroids belonged to a friend, learned from the experience.
“I put myself in a bad situation. It wasn’t anything to do with me; it wasn’t really my stuff. I learned the hard way,” Jordan said. “Unfortunately, I was already playing football for LSU, so my stuff was spread over ESPN. No one ever told anybody it was thrown out of court. The whole case was dismissed.”
Getting caught with an illegal performance-enhancing substance is bound to raise suspicions during an era in which their use in sports has become rampant, particularly when one is a weight-room marvel. Moffitt, who was integral in supporting Jordan during that time, disputes the notion that his player was ever a tainted athlete.
“You just have to educate people on the fact that he had never failed a drug test before that and he never failed a drug test after that,” he said. “Anybody who would not have believed him needed their head examined because he never tested positive for anything the whole time he was here.
“Shawn was always the type of guy who was strong; there were never any huge increases or big drops in his performances in the weight room,” Moffitt added. “You just try to convince people with the facts. If they don’t want to believe it after that, I just tell them like I told Shawn, to hell with them.”
Facing that type of scrutiny prepared Jordan well for his current calling. Nothing the UFC throws at him compares to being under the daily microscope as a football player in Baton Rouge, and Jordan generally sees the experience as a positive.
“The fans are great in Louisiana. They’re so avid. They’re so involved. They want to know everything,” he said. “Sometimes, they’re a little too opinionated, but they want to know everything about everyone. It’s a nice feeling to know they still support all of us after you’re done [with football].”
Jordan made a serious decision regarding his MMA career following the loss to Cole last July. Even though he took the bout on three days’ notice, the 27-year-old realized he needed to change his approach if he was going to advance any further within the sport. With financial backing from a group of friends and supporters that included Beall and Seattle Seahawks quarterback Flynn, Jordan was able to set up camp at Jackson’s MMA. Without such a strong support system, Jordan says it was likely he would have retired by now.
“They all put up money for my first camp,” he said, “made it possible for me to get out here and not be living off of tuna fish all day.”
When Jordan arrived in New Mexico, his unique skill set caught the attention of teammates almost immediately. Former WEC champion Brian Stann quickly informed striking coach Mike Winkeljohn that Jordan was a talent worth examining. Now Winkeljohn considers his charge to be one of the most gifted heavyweights in the division.
“I started paying more attention to him and noticed how explosive he was. I tried to mold it into some kind of beneficial way for his MMA career,” Winkeljohn said. “He had a tendency to throw his right hand and not use his left hand at all. The kid just needed some time to grow and get some experience. He can do it all. I figured if we could get him to be more explosive hurting people with his hands, he’s going to be taking people down that much easier.”
“
The kid just needed some
time to grow and get some
experience. He can do it all.
time to grow and get some
experience. He can do it all.
”
-- Mike Winkeljohn, Jackson’s MMA trainer
“Everybody wants to be the best. Everybody wants to be the guy with the belt,” he said, “but in the short term, I just want to keep winning. I want to take away from each fight something I need to learn, something that’s gonna make me better. That’s where I’m at right now.”