John Dodson doesn’t hold grudges, but he definitely keeps receipts.
Ahead of his return on New Year’s Eve in Japan, the veteran flyweight found peace with his new fighting home in RIZIN along with becoming champion in BKFC after he was unceremoniously released from the UFC. Of course, Dodson understands that you’re only as good as your last fight when it comes to combat sports, but he felt that his résumé with the UFC should’ve earned him a little bit more consideration.
Sadly, after falling to Merab Dvalisivhili in 2020, Dodson was released from the promotion after spending nearly a decade there, which included two title fights during his tenure. The way that whole situation played out left a bad taste in Dodson’s mouth, which is why he’s not really interested in returning to the UFC even if the promotion came calling.
“They’d have to cut a check for me to come back,” Dodson told MMA Fighting. “If they want me to come back, they’re going to have to come with a higher dollar amount. Not to disrespect anybody that’s in the UFC, I think I’m far better than the champion that’s at 125 [pounds] and 135 right now.
“To me, it doesn’t make sense, but at the same time, it is what it is. At the time I was let go [from the UFC], my last 10 fights before I was let go, I won four fights [and lost six] and that’s the scale they decided to look at. When I lost to Merab Dvalishvili, he was my sixth loss in those 10 fights and I only lost back-to-back fights one time during that time frame. For me, it was very frustrating, heartbreaking, I just came off a Knockout of the Night performance and I lost a boring fight and they’re like, ‘You’ve gotta go.’”
Since splitting with the UFC, Dodson has put together an impressive run, with a 3-1 record in MMA that includes two wins in RIZIN while also amassing a perfect 3-0 résumé in bare-knuckle competition and becoming the BKFC flyweight champion.
Dodson remains thankful to both RIZIN and BKFC for giving him a home after he began feeling discouraged about his future in the sport. It turns out after his UFC release, Dodson received a similar message from the now-defunct Bellator MMA about a possible fight there as well, and it started to feel like he was running out of options.
“Bellator told me I wasn’t good enough,” Dodson revealed. “So I’m going to go dominate everywhere else. Everyone who keeps disrespecting me, they’re going to have to put a lot of money on the table to go ahead and say yes.”
Dodson can’t predict the future so he’s not sure what offers may eventually come his way, but he knows it will take a lot to get him to return to the UFC or leave RIZIN and BKFC.
He credits those two promotions for picking him up when he was stuck on a downward spiral, and he’ll never forget that.
“I was blessed RIZIN decided to pick me up and then BKFC came along and took me under their mantle,” Dodson said. “The people that decided to have my back and pick me up and carry me, I want to take them wherever they want to go and continue to make them the most successful organizations possible.
“So BKFC and RIZIN are my homes until the wheels fall off. I am a human being and my feelings do get hurt. I can forgive somebody but I will never forget.”
