LAS VEGAS – Grant Dawson wants to get back in the UFC official rankings, and he hopes to do so by beating someone on that list.
Dawson (13-2-1 MMA, 10-1-1 UFC) was briefly ranked prior to his quick KO loss to Bobby Green in October 2023, but since has picked up two consecutive wins. Saturday, Dawson became the first to stop Rafa Garcia (16-4 MMA, 4-4 UFC) and put him away in a violent TKO on the main card of UFC Fight Night 244.
The American Top Team product hopes to get a ranked opponent next or a bout against Drakkar Klose.
“In the top 15, I’m actually not sure because the guys that make sense are booked and the guys that don’t make sense are apparently fighting for a world title in other weight classes for some reason,” Dawson said at the UFC Fight Night 244 post-fight press conference. “You’ve got (Rafael Dos Anjos) in there – and nobody is a bigger fan of RDA than me, I’ve been watching that dude since I was a child. I’m a big fan of his. He should not be in the rankings at 155. He’s fighting at 170, he’s fought at 170, and he’s openly said he’s not fighting at 155 anymore. Get him out of there and put me in.
“If I don’t get a top-15 fight next, the guy that makes most sense to me would be Drakkar Klose. I have two losses in my professional career, and he’s beaten both of them. That would be a fight that would really prove to people how much better I’ve gotten.”
As far as the performance on Saturday, Dawson was happy with what he was able to display. He thought he would have a much tougher time dealing with Garcia, but that wasn’t the case.
“That was the game plan, but through the entire fight camp everyone that had trained with him or seen him, I had people messaging me, ‘This guy has really good takedown defense. This guy is strong. This guy is so hard to take down. He is so difficult to get down,'” Dawson said. “Even the UFC was saying that this guy has really good takedown defense and Grant might get pushed here. I come in with the mindset that I might not be able to take this guy down. I think what separates me from the rest of the division is that I don’t get discouraged. I’m a problem solver.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 244.
