UFC Vegas 41 Fighter to Watch: Grant Dawson

Talented lightweight looks to remain unbeaten inside the Octagon and extend his winning streak to nine in a co-main event assignment opposite Ricky Glenn on Saturday night in Las Vegas

Name: Grant Dawson
Nickname: KGD
Record: 17-1 overall, 5-0 UFC
Division: Lightweight
Team: Glory MMA & Fitness
Opponent: Ricky Glenn (22-6-1 overall, 4-3 UFC)

Grant Dawson is one of those fighters that was hyped during his days on the regional circuit and has continued to be a promising talent since graduating to the UFC, entering Saturday’s co-main event pairing with Ricky Glenn unbeaten in five UFC starts and riding an eight-fight winning streak overall.

What’s most impressive to me is that the 27-year-old is tremendously grounded and realistic about his career, both in terms of how he’s approaching things now and the way he’s mapping things out overall.

When he was struggling to make the 145-pound limit, he took a couple catchweight bouts and then moved to lightweight, understanding that being slightly undersized or out-muscled for the first couple appearances was better than torturing his body in an attempt to still make the featherweight limit. Now that he’s committed to competing in the 155-pound ranks, Dawson is working to add muscle and strength, knowing that he’ll need to get bigger and stronger in order to hang with the best the division has to offer.

He’s also cognizant of taking his time and working his way up the divisional ladder systematically and at a pace that suits him. Rather than calling out the top dogs and trying to hustle into the rankings, he took the fight with Santos and ended the Brazilian veteran’s lengthy winning streak with a third-round finish on the buzzer, and now steps in with Glenn, a dangerous, experienced opponent coming off a blistering finish in his return to the Octagon.

Dawson was initially slated to face Carlos Diego Ferreira at the start of the month, but when the Fortis MMA representative was forced out, he opted to jump into something else, rather than wait until Ferreira is ready to return later this year. That’s a risky decision given that he’s going from facing a ranked opponent to an unranked foe, which means this weekend’s bout offer less upside, but Dawson hasn’t fought since March and wanted to get back in there, so here we are.

But if there were one thing I like the most about the Glory MMA & Fitness representative — besides that he works with James Krause, who has quickly become one of the best coaches in the game — it’s that Dawson knows who he is inside the Octagon and fights to his strengths.

While his striking is improving, the Wisconsin-born, Missouri-based lightweight is a grappler and has repeatedly bet on his skills on the ground and in the clinch being superior to his opponents, and thus far, he’s been correct.

Dawson has faced four straight grapplers — Mike Trizano, Darrick Minner, Nad Naramani, and Santos — and he’s looked to wrestle with each of them. He’s successfully taken down everyone he’s faced thus far at least once, and showed solid control during his featherweight days, needing a single takedown to control a round on the canvas, exhibiting strong control. He struggled a little against Santos, but the Brazilian is tall, talented, and Dawson did still put him on the deck, securing his lone takedown in the third round when it mattered most.

There is no flash to his game and he’s not someone that is out here blowing up Twitter or posing for a ton of IG pictures — he’s in the gym getting better, honing his craft, focused on climbing the ranks one rung at a time and making his way into the Top 15.

Saturday’s contest with Glenn is a great showcase opportunity — a co-main event assignment on a low key card where, if all goes well, he can deliver the kind of stand out performance that will net him another assignment against a ranked opponent next time out and force people to start talking about him as one of the top young talents in the 155-pound weight class.

It’s rare to have a highly regarded regional talent just seamlessly keep making steady progress once they reach the big stage, while simultaneously not getting caught up in being a UFC fighter on the rise, but Dawson has done just that, and he’s showed no signs of slowing down either.