[autotag]Jared Gordon[/autotag] is on the verge of entering a new chapter in his fighting career.
The 31-year-old will return to his original weight class of 145 pounds for the first time since 2017 when he takes on Matt Sayles on May 16 at UFC San Diego. The shift to featherweight is paired up with many significant changes in Gordon’s life heading into his seventh UFC fight.
For this bout, Gordon (15-4 MMA, 3-3 UFC) is now living in a different state, training under a new team, and he’s engaged. Although this amount of change might seem overwhelming, “Flash” is content that it’s all happening at once.
“This is what I need. I find it rejuvenating, and it’s a new chapter,” Gordon told MMA Junkie.
“It’s my resurgence back, to put together a win streak, and I truly believe this is where I’m supposed to be, so I’m really excited. I’m pumped up and excited to see how camp goes, how I feel, and it’s given me a new purpose and a new mission. I believe my strengths as a fighter will be shown more, and I really do think this is what I needed.”
Gordon was training at Roufusport with coach Duke Roufus in Milwaukee, but he made the move to South Florida in December, as that’s where his fiancee lives. Gordon now trains with Sanford MMA (formerly Hard Knocks 365) with Henry Hooft.
“When I was at Roufusport, I went there and thought I was going to be there for a a really long time, and it didn’t turn out that way,” Gordon said. “But I took what I needed, and it got me to where I’m at right now. It got me a new UFC contract and won my first UFC fight there.
“So my first UFC contract, my last fight on that was with Duke, and although I lost that fight, I got ‘Fight of the Night’ (a $50,000 bonus), and they gave me a new contact. Then I won my first fight on my new contract, and then I took a chance. I fought (Charles) Oliveira and lost that fight. So it got me to where I am right now.
“Then I got engaged, and my life changed pretty drastically. In Florida, my training and my living space, it’s in one area – I don’t have to spread myself thin. Also going back to 145, so a lot of things are changing. I truly believe this is the way they’re supposed to be, so here I am.”
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Gordon suffered a broken orbital bone in the loss to Oliveira. It was his second orbital bone injury, and he now has metal plates underneath both eyes. Despite the severity of the injury, Gordon is now healthy and believes there are major positives to take away from the experience.
“I took a chance fighting Oliveira,” Gordon said. “I wasn’t supposed to fight Oliveira. I was supposed to fight someone else, and they pulled out. They couldn’t get Oliveira a fight because he’s on a tear, and nobody wanted to fight him in his hometown in Sao Paulo. Nobody in front of him wanted to fight him, no one closely ranked behind him wanted to fight him, so they gave me the opportunity, and it didn’t go my way obviously.
“But now I’m looking at it like a blessing because I was fighting at 155 pounds, and I truly believe that I’m too small, too short. Dude, I have a 66-inch reach. That’s like a reach of a 135er, so I believe I really was fighting out of my wight class. But if I would’ve won that fight, I would’ve been ranked at 155, and then I would’ve been fighting people ranked after Oliveira – all monsters, they’re all huge and technically really good. So I truly believe I’m supposed to be at 145 in order to be successful and go where I want to go.”
Gordon is well aware of the impact the recent coronavirus outbreak is having in the U.S. and on UFC events. Gordon admits there are concerns about the event potentially not happening, but will move forward with his fight preparations for now.
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