Jared Gordon has plenty of ties to Madison Square Garden — some good, some bad.
The Astoria, Queens, native added another, better one during UFC 295.
“My grandfather fought in this stadium [three] times,” Gordon told the crowd from the octagon Saturday night. “I used to shoot heroin in Penn Station, underneath this building. Now, I’m fighting in it and knocking guys out.”
Now sober for eight years, the last part was the most recent development for Gordon after he stopped former Danish Olympic wrestler Mark O. Madsen via first-round TKO at the Garden.
Gordon (20-6, nine finishes), who now lives and trains in Florida, weathered the early blitz from Madsen (12-2, six finishes), who bloodied the New Yorker’s nose with one of several winging rights.
But the 35-year-old Gordon, fighting for the first time in his home state, turned the tide once he took the advantage in the clinch, pinning Madsen against the fence before landing a heavy uppercut followed by a flush right hand that crumpled the 39-year-old Dane. Gordon added a handful of follow-up punches to the prone foe before the bout was waived off at 4:42 of the first round.
“I used to shoot heroin all over this area,” Gordon recalled while speaking with reporters. “I used to walk by the Garden, you know, ‘Oh, one day.’ It was a pipe dream. And here I am.”
Gordon’s grandfather Sal Ferello, a boxer who ran up a 38-3-1 record from 1946-50, fought three times at the World’s Most Famous Arena and spent his entire career competing in rings around the city and Westchester.
He also battled addiction, according to Gordon, and later succumbed to it before having the chance to meet his grandson and fellow fighter.
Fortunately, Gordon overcame his demons and turned his life around.
“It’s really funny because I’ve walked in his footsteps,” Gordon said. “He got arrested in Detroit. … It was the largest heroin bust in Detroit history.
He did eight years [of incarceration] in Michigan. I have pictures of him in prison, boxing. He boxed the whole eight years he was there.
“He died an alcoholic. He came out of prison and went back to being a criminal. And he ended up dying an alcoholic. So my mom always says to me — it was her father — that I turned it around. He ended his life as an addict, alcoholic, and I’ve gotten sober. So, I don’t know, it’s kind of like breaking a family curse.”
Matt Frevola’s hot streak came to a violent end on the pay-per-view main card, with the Long Island native suffering a first-round knockout loss to Benoit Saint-Denis.
Frevola (11-4, seven finishes), of Long Island-based Serra-Longo Fight Team, absorbed the fight-ending left high kick at 1:31 against France’s Saint Denis (13-1, 13 finishes) to snap a three-fight win streak.
Nazim Sadykhov, a native of Azerbaijan who moved to Brooklyn as a child, had to settle for a draw with Viacheslav Borshchev.
Serra-Longo product Sadykhov (9-1-1, eight finishes) dropped rounds one and three to Borshchev (7-3-1, six finishes), but a big second frame secured him two 10-8 round scores to eke out the draw.
The Brooklynite nearly finished the Russian with a heavy high kick then battered and bloodied him on the mat, opening a cut on Borshchev’s left eyebrow.
In the curtain jerker, the night for Staten Island’s Dennis Buzukja (11-4, five finishes) was over practically before it began against Jamall Emmers (20-7, 11 finishes), who secured a TKO just 49 seconds into the first round after a stiff right hand put the Serra-Longo member in trouble. Emmers had missed weight by a pound the day before.
Additional reporting by Dan Martin
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