UFC 282: Jared Gordon reveling in spotlight that bout with Paddy Pimblett has cast upon him

Jared Gordon's climb up the MMA ladder has been a slow one. And even when he has been successful, sometimes things haven't gone his way.

Prior to his bout at UFC 278 on Aug. 20 in Salt Lake City, Gordon, a native New Yorker, was desperate to get onto the UFC 282 card at Madison Square Garden. Before the bout, he spoke at length about his desire to fight at home and said he'd use his time on the microphone during his in-cage interview after a win to make his case.

He never got the chance. He won the fight impressively, taking a unanimous decision, and was looking around for UFC broadcast analyst Daniel Cormier to interview him. But there was no in-cage interview for that fight, and Gordon didn't get his opportunity.

But Saturday represents his biggest break yet. Fighting rising star Paddy Pimblett is in and of itself a good spot for Gordon because Pimblett will generate more interest in the fight than Leonardo Santos did at UFC 278. But when the original main event between Jiri Prochazka and Glover Teixeira was scrapped, the co-main between Jan Blachowicz and Magomed Ankalaev became the main, and Pimblett and Gordon became the co-main.

Gordon has been an inspirational figure during his time in the UFC, as he has compiled a 7-4 UFC record with an overall 19-5 MMA mark. He has spoken out about his addiction issues and helping at-risk people. Gordon's heart once stopped for two minutes before he was resuscitated.

Fighting Pimblett, who has mounted a campaign to assist men with mental health issues, will give Gordon the big stage from which to speak. Gordon has received a significant amount of attention, but despite his recovery, things aren't what he'd call normal.

"People don't really know me that well, I don't think," Gordon said. "If you hung out with me for a couple of hours, you'd be like, 'This is not who we thought he was.' I have a responsibility to set a good example, I think. But I can be fun, too."

The follow-up question, of course, had to be: "What will we see if we hang out with you for a couple of hours?"

"You really want me to tell you?" he said, laughing. "Ah, man. I don't want to go there."

He wasn't getting off the hook that easily. He has been an open book about his entire MMA career and shared stories of things that happened to him that were incredibly powerful.

"Before I was trying to be an example for people, I lived in a way that was not necessarily the most holy or godly way," he said. "I come from New York. My mother is Catholic Sicilian. My father is an English Jew. My grandparents were born and raised in London. The households, the way we spoke, you know, I've been cursing since I've been 3 years old. So you could use your imagination. It's fun."

Gordon has seen and done a lot in his life. And now that he and Pimblett are using their platforms to preach community service and assist those who are struggling, it has raised the question about how the fight will be perceived.

There haven't been any personal attacks or trash talk. They've spoken of their mutual respect, and Gordon said he wants to join forces with Pimblett after the fight to help him with his foundation.

The fighters who try to portray the bad-boy image are making a mistake, he said.

"I see guys all the time saying certain things to each other, using certain words, being like tough guys," Gordon said. "Well, if you were really a criminal, you wouldn't be here. You'd be out there extorting people and selling drugs and killing people.

"I hear people call each other certain words, and it's like, from where I've been and for where I'm from, those words are not fist-fighting words. Those are 'I'm going to stab you in the back when you're not watching' words. You can tell some people haven't been to jail. Some of our superstars, they haven't been to jail. They've never shared a cell with someone else they don't know who comes from a terrible place.

"I get it. Someone says something wrong to me, I'm not just going to roll over. But I know I'm going to sound like a broken record, but I'm going to try to preach mental health and addiction stuff."

He sounded disappointed that more visible stars haven't recognized the problem of mental health in society. He noted that if Lakers star LeBron James or former UFC champion Conor McGregor would speak out positively and try to support those with mental health struggles, like he and Pimblett are doing, it would have an impact.

"If LeBron James was talking about mental health, he'd get a lot of listeners," Gordon said. "If Conor McGregor was talking about mental health instead of flexing in the mirror, he would get a lot of listeners."