Victorville's Jamal Pogues makes UFC debut with a unanimous decision victory over Josh Parisian

Jamal Pogues never forgets where he comes from.

Even though Pogues has called Las Vegas home for nearly two years, it’s Victorville that’s got his heart.

After making his official UFC debut on Feb. 18, Pogues looked into the camera during his post-fight interview and made a promise.

“Victorville, California, with everything in my heart I'm going to try to bring you guys a world championship title,” Pogues said after beating Josh Parisian by unanimous decision with scores of 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 on the UFC Fight Night 219 card.

Pogues moved to Las Vegas in 2021 to begin training at Syndicate MMA.

“I got so much love from people from my city,” Pogues said during the post-fight press conference. He talked about the overwhelming messages on his phone and shared one that made him emotional.

“There was this long message that made me tear up because this guy said to me 'You're going to be the hope that we need for the city. You're going to have to hold the weight for this city for a while until the next person comes,” Pogues said.

The 27-year-old initially turned to the sport at the Universal Grappling Academy, in Victorville, when he was 13 as a means of self-defense.

He then shifted to train at Joe Stevenson’s Cobra Kai, also Victorville. Before turning pro, the University Prep graduate piled up an amateur record of 8-1 and earned a California State Amateur Championship in 2015.

“Man, 14 years to get here, and I’m here now so that’s the crazy part about everything,” Pogues said. “It’s a surreal moment. You can play these moments in your head a bunch of times, and now I’m like, ‘I did it,’ and I can scratch that off my bucket list so far.”

It could have been easy to quit for Pogues, especially after losing by TKO his professional debut back in 2016. But he came back in 2017 and strung together four straight victories, including three in the first round, within a year and that led to a fight on Bellator 201 on June 29, 2018.

He suffered his second career loss, this time by submission in the third round with just over a minute left in the bout.

Pogues went 5-1 over his next six bouts and twice competed on Dana White's Contender Series. Pogues won both fights in those appearances in 2019 and 2022 but he wasn’t offered an official UFC contract.

He finally got the chance to appear on a UFC card and made good on the 14-year commitment to the sport, but he’s far from feeling accomplished.

Pogues injured his right hand after landing an overhand punch on Parisian at the end of the second round.

“I just had to push it through,” Pogues said after the fight. “Let's see what they say about my hand. After that I'm going to be in the gym training. No need to slow down, there is nothing to celebrate.”

Pogues’ will to get back to work stems from keeping his eyes on the long-term goal. The goal setting is something he credits to his long-time coach Stevenson, who also competed in the UFC in his career.

“Joe ‘Daddy’ Stevenson always told me to set short term goals and long term goals,” Pogues said. “He always said that if you don't do the short term goals, the long term goals will never come.”

One of the long-term goals is obviously capturing a title, but to get there Pogues wants to be ranked among the Top-15 in the heavyweight division.

I have a good win over a good veteran and that's cool, but I need to see a number by my name,” Pogues said. “That's my next goal right now.”

Upcoming local MMA fights

• March 3 — Robert Hernandez, who trains locally at Cobra Kai, will compete at a Cage Warriors event, held in San Diego.

• March 4 — Tony Whitfield, who trains at Universal Grappling Academy, will compete at a Gladiator Challenge event held in Valley Center.

• March 11 — Aaron Trobee and Christian Weathers, who both train out of Gracie Jiu Jitsu in Apple Valley, will compete at a SparStar MMA event held at the Commerce Casino.

• March 18 — Lawrence Petway and Sahid Gonzales, who both train at Cobra Kai, are set to compete in matches at a Hendo Fight Night event, held at the Dan Henderson’s Athletic Fitness Center, in Temecula. Sahid Gonzales,

• May 6 — Johnny Munoz, of Phelan, is scheduled to take on Daniel Santos on a UFC Fight Night card, held at the UFC Apex, in Las Vegas.

Recent results for local MMA fighters

• Feb. 17 — David Morales, a Sultana High School graduate, defeated Gustavo Zuniga via a first-round TKO at an Epic Fighting card held in San Diego.

• Feb. 11-18 — Rashad Satterwhile, a Sultana grad, competed overseas, representing the USA, at the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation World Championships. The event was held at the Stark Arena in Belgrade, Serbia, and Satterwhite went 1-1 in two matches.

• Jan. 7 — At a SparStar MMA fight card held at the Commerce Casino, Tony Cortez, who trains at Cobra Kai, defended his title belt against Quest Truxton by submission and improved to 7-0; Michael Santiago, who trains at Cage Combat Academy, beat Arshag Dadourian by unanimous decision; Dylan Morales, who also trains at Cage Combat Academy, defeated Stephan Kilim by submission in the third round; and David Morales lost to Quentin Camacho by unanimous decision.

• Dec. 31 — Juan Archuleta, a Sultana grad, competed on the Bellator MMA vs. Rizin FF card held at Saitama Stadium, in Japan. Archuleta defeated Soo Chul Kim by a split decision over three rounds.

• Dec. 10 — Lawrence Petway, who trains at Cobra Kai, scored a unanimous decision victory over Yazen Wekhyan at a Hendo Fight Night event.

The local results and upcoming schedule are provided to the Daily Press by Mike Phillips, of High Desert MMA. Email him at mike@highdesertmma.com if you have questions or comments about local MMA fighters.

This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Jamal Pogues, of Victorville, makes UFC debut with a unanimous decision victory over Josh Parisian