Grant Dawson still intends on getting his ranked opponent by the end of the year.
Dawson (17-1 MMA, 5-0 UFC), who was scheduled to face top-15 ranked lightweight Diego Ferreira on Oct. 2, has gotten a new opponent and a new date after Ferreira was forced to withdraw due to injury. The 27-year-old Glory MMA fighter will now face Ricky Glenn at UFC Fight Night 196 on Oct. 23.
Although Glenn (22-6-1 MMA, 4-3 UFC) doesn’t have a number next to his name, Dawson explains that he wasn’t willing to wait for Ferreira (17-4 MMA, 8-4 UFC), but still plans on seeing him if he gets past Glenn.
“They were originally gonna rebook us for Nov. 13 and then Diego said he needed more time and said he would like the fight in December,” Dawson told MMA Junkie. “I can’t wait until December, I’ve got puppies to feed, I’ve got a girlfriend, I just bought a new house, I need to fight. Also, I want to stay active. I like fighting, I enjoy fighting, and I want to fight. Barring no injuries against Richard Glenn, I’m gonna call out Diego for December immediately. As far as I know, he’s still interested in the fight, I’m still interested in the fight and when you have two contestants that are interested in a fight there’s really no reason not to make it. So my thought process is I beat Richard and then I call out Diego, and I get Diego in December.”
He continued, “My goal is to get three fights this year. I’m not leaving Vegas until Dana and I can talk about me fighting in December because I definitely want to fight one more time this year after I fight Richard.”
Coming off a buzzer-beater “Performance of the Night” knockout over formerly unbeaten Leonardo Santos, Dawson’s confidence is riding high. But the Contender Series graduate knows Glenn is a tough outing who has come up big as an underdog before and he won’t take him lightly.
“He’s one of those guys that you can’t underestimate,” Dawson said. “I’m a huge fan of Gavin Tucker. I think Gavin Tucker is one of the best dudes in the division, I know he’s coming off of a loss against another very good fighter in Dan Ige. I thought he let the hype get to him against Ricky, I think that he fought stupidly, I definitely think he’s the better fighter, but it is what it is.
“We have a saying in our gym, ‘you can disrespect the opponent, but never disrespect the game or the game will disrespect you.’ So, I’m definitely going into this fight hands up, chin down. But I know I’m the better fighter and that’s OK because I know I’m a better fighter than everybody. I’m gonna put my elbow on him, I’m gonna take him down, I’m gonna beat him up and he can either give up or take an ass whooping for 15 minutes.”