UFC lightweight veteran Jared Gordon has just been promoted to BJJ black belt by his coach, Mike Jaramillo; who is a 5th degree black belt under John Danaher. Gordon has been a professional MMA fighter since all the way back in 2011 and although he has not been known as a submission specialist, he’s a talented grappler who has trained alongside plenty of incredible competitors and coaches. He actually won his very first fight by submission, and that early success set the tone for his time on the regional MMA circuit.
He competed primarily in Pennsylvania and New Jersey in the US along with several fights in Mexico, racking up an impressive 12-1 professional record along the way. He briefly fought at featherweight as well as lightweight during that time, and even held the Cage Fury Fighting Championship featherweight title at one point. This led to Gordon being signed to the UFC and he made his promotional debut in 2017, winning his first two fights and starting his career there off with a great first year. He suffered a pair of losses before bouncing back with another win, one that earned him a shot against the biggest challenge of his career when he fought Charles Oliveira.
He lost to Oliveira and dropped back down to featherweight afterward, rattling off another two wins to recover his form. After missing weight Gordon decided to return to lightweight and he’s gone on a 3-2 (1) run in the division since then, bringing his total career record to 20-6 (1). Gordon is always a tough opponent and he’s managed to beat some big names like Mark Madsen and Joe Solecki during his time in the UFC, along with giving other elite fighters a very difficult time. It’s been a great career so far for Gordon and he undoubtedly has plenty of fights left, but from now on he’ll be doing them as a black belt.
Jared Gordon announced the news that he had been promoted to black belt by Mike Jaramillo in a recent post to his official Instagram account:
