Taylor Hooton Foundation > Hoot’s Corner > Podcasts > Episode 87: Fighting Addiction and In the Octagon – Jared “Flash” Gordon
December 6, 2022
Episode 87: Fighting Addiction and In the Octagon – Jared “Flash” Gordon

The ALL ME® Podcast

Fighting Addiction and In the Octagon – Jared “Flash” Gordon 

Throughout life we all go through struggles and have to overcome obstacles.  It’s often thought that if you grow up in a great family, in a great neighborhood and good to a great school nothing could possibly go wrong.  The theme of this podcast is going to be about fighting – fighting addiction, fighting for your life and fighting professionally in the UFC.

We were lucky to be connected to Jared “Flash” Gordon who is currently a professional UFC fighter who has a story to share.  Jared grew up in a nice neighborhood, he had both of his parents who made a good living and took care of him growing up.  When Gordon was just 8 years old he would encounter a very dark incident at an overnight camp which would change his life forever.

By the young age of 9 years old Jared was smoking pot, drinking booze and using drugs.  He was running with the wrong crowd and getting into trouble.  Then there was a fire that destroyed their family business they worked so hard to build that led to his family moving to Queens, NY.  It was here that Jared would discover that he truly had God’s Gift to compete in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA).  As he got older his addiction got worse.  He was smoking pot every day and was abusing opioids. Coming home one day he would pass an MMA gym that he walked into and got some information.  A short time after that he was training each day. At the age of 17 Jared would have his first fight as an amateur and beat a 26-year-old which would make him feel like he was on top of the world. 

At the same time, he was still using drugs when he wasn’t fighting.  Stay tuned to his story as it’s inspiring how he was able to get sober and today he makes a great living fighting professionally in the UFC.  This is a story that will captive you starting from the very beginning of this podcast.  At the end you will learn about how John is using his talents and success to help others who are struggling with addiction.

Lastly, I asked Jared if there was a movie made about him who would play his character.  Interestingly enough he said many people told him that he looks like John Bernthal and we couldn’t agree more.  Take a look at a picture of Bernthal with no hair and you can see the striking resemblance.

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