Jared Gordon Details Hamstring Injury that Kept Him From the Cage Since December

Lightweight mixed martial artist Jared Gordon last fought in December 2018 on n UFC on Fox 31. In that end-of-year bout, the 30-year-old from Queens, New York, lost to Joaquin Silva via TKO in round three.

"Flash" is returning to the Ultimate Fighting Championship Octagon six months later to face Dan Moret at UFC on ESPN 3 on the prelims portion of the Minneapolis card. Gordon revealed to James Lynch of The Score MMA that the reason for his long absence from the cage was due to a hamstring tear suffered in his December clash against Silva.

"Yeah, he put me in that Pavel stretch, it's called, I think. And I felt a tearing and I heard popping, but I knew there was only 10 seconds left, and I was like 'screw it, I'm not gonna tap.' And it turned out that my hamstring came off my pelvis, and it was close to a full tear," revealed Gordon.

Fortunately for Gordon, his injury was such that surgery was not required. "I was looking at surgery, but, if you tear your hamstring, I tore it in the spot where you would want to tear it," said the fighter. "I was limping around for about two-three months, but I recovered fairly quickly and got back in there, and here I am."

Gordon has gone 2-2 in his last four bouts, with his last two being round 1 and round 3 losses respectively. Moret, a 32-year-old Minnesota native, owns a pro MMA record of 13-5 but is also on a two-fight losing streak.

UFC on ESPN 3: Ngannou vs. Dos Santos kicks off at 7 p.m. ET and will air live on ESPN from the Target Center in Minneapolis.