Jorge Pederson is the third victim identified in the deadly mass shooting in Austin, Texas. He trained at The Academy in Brooklyn Center.

BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. — The third victim in a deadly mass shooting in Austin has been identified as Jorge Pederson, 30, a native Minnesotan who had just moved to Texas.

“Jorge was Jorge,” Mac Kukowski, a fighter who trains at The Academy in Brooklyn Center, said. “There was nothing else, and he was gonna show up to be Jorge every day.”

Pederson was a mixed martial arts fighter and trained at The Academy. Kukowski says Pederson trained with their night team.

“That was the best thing about Jorge, is we could be beating the absolute crap out of each other for, you know, 25 minutes straight, but at the end, it’s a smile and a hug and always a laugh,” Kukowski said.

Pederson had just moved to Austin for a job, head coach Greg Nelson says.

“It was definitely a gut punch,” Nelson said. “That’s like, man, this is unbelievable.”

Nelson says it’s been difficult for other fighters who looked up to and respected Pederson.

“There wasn’t times where it was like, ‘Man, Jorge is here,’ it was like, ‘Oh, Jorge is here, it’s gonna be fun!” Nelson said. “He’s gonna work super hard, but then he’s gonna do something that’s gonna just lighten the mood and just crack everybody up.”

Coach and Manager of The Academy, Andy Grahn, says Pederson was set to make his professional debut soon, after fighting at the amateur level. Grahn says Pederson had even asked him if he thought Pederson had what it took to make it.

“I told him, absolutely, you take it as far as you can,” Grahn said. “You’ve got a lot of talent and more than that, the mindset.”

“Everything was in front of him,” Grahn said. “He was, you know, starting a new adventure, and had all this stuff going for him, and it’s just gone.”

Grahn says a fellow fighter started a fundraiser for the funeral and Pederson’s family. You can find that fundraiser here.

“Jorge is a big part of our lives and a big part of our team, and there definitely feels like there’s a little bit of emptiness without him.”