In a city of transplants, Jorge Pederson was one of Austin’s newest arrivals. He came from Minneapolis in mid-February, drawn by a new job, warmer weather and the city’s live comedy scene.
On March 1, Pederson was meeting a new coworker at Buford’s on West Sixth Street when a gunman opened fire. He was one of three people in the crowd that were killed. He was 30 years old.
Now, friends in Austin and Minneapolis are confronting a terrible loss, and sharing stories of a man they say was always “unapologetically himself.”
“[He] loved deeply, and protected the ones around him fiercely,” Kit Ingersoll, his best friend since childhood, told KUT News by phone as he drove Pederson’s belongings back to Minneapolis from Austin. “Jorge and I started a moving company together, so it’s kind of fitting that I’m the one to handle the move back.”
Photo courtesy of Olivia Caspers
Jorge Pederson was planning to participate in his first professional mixed martial arts match in May.
In business and life, Pederson was the “hardest worker,” Ingersoll said. “Very disciplined, determined to do whatever it was that he wanted.”
It was a decisiveness on full display the day he agreed to quit a previous job to start the moving business with his friend.
“He just said, ‘I’d absolutely love to be your partner. I’ll put my two weeks in right now,’” Ingersoll said.
Minutes later, Pederson sent a follow-up text with a screenshot of him submitting his notice.
“That’s how committed he was to doing what he wanted to do,” Ingersoll said.
A thoughtful fighter
Among those mourning Pederson’s death is the mixed martial arts community in Minnesota.
Pederson wrestled and studied Muay Thai. But, over the last five years, he had prioritized MMA, often training six days a week. He was planning to participate in his first professional match in May.
”He was very welcoming as a martial artist,” MMA fighter Brody Oothoudt said. “He was the one who invited me to come start training in the first place.”
Friends and fellow students said he was attracted to the sport for the skill and discipline it requires. They said he had no patience for fighters who needlessly injure or hurt their opponents.
“Jorge was vocally against that, because that is against the spirit of what martial arts is,” said Oothoudt, who helped organize an online fundraiser to pay for his friend’s funeral. “He was a good guy, working to make a positive impact.”
At 6-foot-4 and 185 pounds, Pederson was a “bigger guy,” who would sometimes spar against smaller partners.
But in six years of sparring, his coach, Reshal Malik, said he never injured anyone at the gym.
“It’s really easy to just go out and hurt someone, but to control your weapons, … not just throw punches to throw punches — it takes a very special athlete to do that,” Malik said.
Malik also remembered Pederson for his sense of humor.
“In sports where you’re punching each other in the face, to bring a good sense of humor in a training session is always good,” he said.
A comedian and a showman
Everyone who spoke with KUT News about Pederson said his dry, sometimes inscrutable, sense of humor was a core part of his personality.
Todd Fossey, who trained with Pederson for years, said his comedy brought to mind the work of Andy Kaufman, a stand-up and actor who himself dabbled in combat sports.
Courtesy of Olivia Caspers
Pederson liked to make people laugh. He often played with different personas, from hardened MMA fighter to renaissance festival elf. His girlfriend, Olivia Caspers, said he often wore a smile like the one in this picture.
“He was a wonderful enigma,” Fossey said. “My opinion is Jorge saw life as a fun social experiment and adventure, including his fighting career.”
Pederson was known to play with different personas.
Fossey said, before one fight, Pederson photoshopped face and neck tattoos on his promotional image to give his teammates a laugh.
Ahead of another match, he had a rapper write an anthem for him, then walk with him to the ring, performing into a microphone.
Pederson’s longtime girlfriend, Olivia Caspers, remembers another time when he insisted they dress in “full emo” to attend a concert her brother’s band was playing.
“So we got all dressed up, full emo and like black eye makeup. We got there, and we stuck out like a sore thumb!” she said. “My brother loved it. It was like Jorge just knew somehow: This will bring energy to this group.”
His instinct for showmanship found a growing following online, where he posted short videos about fights and martial arts culture on Instagram.
Recently, he had also started performing stand-up comedy.
“One of the last times I talked to him, I asked him how things were going with the comedy, and he said he had his first night that he bombed,” Fossey said. “He said it with a smile on his face. He loved the fact that he bombed. He knew it was part of the process.”
Caspers said she and Pederson had plans to catch a stand-up show in Austin in March when she visited from Minnesota.
A new chapter
Ingersoll said Pederson embraced his move to Austin with the same decisiveness he brought to other big life decisions. When offered a new job in marketing here, he sold Ingersoll his share of their business and headed south.
“He kind of referred to Austin as a boomtown,’” Ingersoll said. “I think he wanted to be a part of something new that was getting big.”
Caspers, who planned to reunite with Pederson after he established himself at work, said he was excited to have more free time than he did running his own business.
Jorge Pederson smiles with his girlfriend Olivia Caspers.
He would call her from his lunch break from Austin to give updates on the move.
“He just said, ‘Everyone here is so nice and so welcoming. I really feel like I could be good at this,’” she said.
At his new job, Pederson quickly made friends with Kelson Li, with whom he shared a passion for Muay Thai. “There’s a brotherhood when you do that martial art,” Li said. “He was one of the few who really lived up to those expectations.”
On the evening of Feb. 28, Pederson stopped by a sushi restaurant that Li was helping a family member open. He posted a four-star review to support the business online.
Afterward, the two went out to explore the city. “He was really proud of himself starting this new chapter in life,” Li said, remembering “how happy he was that night.”
The two ended up at Buford’s. Li briefly left the bar a bit before 2 a.m. to catch up with another friend down the street.
While walking back, he said he heard gunfire.
Pederson would die the next day at a local hospital surrounded by friends and family.
“He fought really hard to make it to the hospital, and I choose to believe that that was because his family needed to get there to say goodbye,” Caspers said. “That just proves how strong he was and how much of a fighter he was.”
With reporting by Chelsey Zhu