Jared “Flash” Gordon (15-4) has not fought since November of 2019 when he lost to Charles Oliveira in the first round. Since then Gordon had a fight against Matt Sayles cancelled due to the pandemic and moved to Florida to be with his fiancé and start a new beginning at Sanford MMA.
The longtime Roufusport standout fighter made the difficult decision to depart from the popular Wisconsin based gym for a variety of reasons. Gordon explained that “My fiancee is living down here, she owns some businesses here and I was flying all the time and it was becoming too much. When I was here I was training with Henry [Sanford MMA] and I think the style of training here is more suited for me, and my fiancee needs me, so I decided to make the full switch.”
Gordon discussed a couple of his former training partners with us, most notably, Belal Muhammad and Brendan Allen who both have fights in the coming weeks. I have had the pleasure of speaking with Allen on multiple occasions recently and I asked “Flash” just how good can the middleweight be. “I think he has super high potential, works really hard and he’s a killer. He’s not there to dance around and win on points, he’s there to finish you. I’ve cornered him in some fights and he’s a killer man, he hits hard, smooth good striking, he’s got good get ups, he knows how to hold you down and ground and pound with good submissions and he’s fought a lot of tough competition.”
Gordon is known for having a strong belief in God. This strong faith came after Jared battled drug abuse as a young man. Now Gordon is clean and healthy and in a great place. “My belief in God has evolved over a long period of time and over the last couple of months and weeks even it’s got stronger. I’ve had to rely on him to get sober according to the program I was in. I go to AA meetings and they tell you that you have to have a higher power,” he explained. “So at first I was like ‘okay, I just need God to get sober,’ then I looked at my whole history growing up as a young kid and a lot of the things that happened to me and my family and I came to the conclusion that he controls everything. I just have faith and when things aren’t going well I just rely on him.”
Now Jared is making the move to featherweight and believes his best days in the UFC are still ahead of him. Jared told us the weight cut won’t be an issue. “I am a month out eating a ton of food and drinking two gallons of water a day and I am waking up at 165. In three weeks hopefully I will be 158 then I’ll cut 10 pounds in a few days which will be nothing.”
Gordon also told us he is excited to compete at Fight Island. “Oh I am pretty excited, especially my first fight back at featherweight and against a guy stylistically is a great fight for me. I’ve made a lot of adjustments, I truly believe I haven’t showed even close to my full potential yet. I think in my first two UFC fights I showed tons of potential against a 45er and a guy that was a 45er and I dominated those fights so I think I’m back where I’m supposed to be and ready to go on a tear — and I think this is my time now.”
First up at featherweight is Chris Fishgold. Gordon was candid when explaining how he believes the two will match up come fight night. “Chris is a gritty tough guy, he has good submissions. I don’t think the quality of his opponents are even close to the opponent that I’m gonna be, especially on the ground. He seems to fade in later rounds where I’ve been known for pushing the pace and my good cardio. It’s gonna be a fun fight to watch and I see myself getting on top and finishing him on top.”
For more check out our full interview with Jared Gordon below!
