Athletes
Davey Grant | 'I'm Going In There To Knock Him Out'
Bantamweight Davey Grant Looks To Begin A Winning Streak As He Takes On The Red-Hot Da'Mon Blackshear At UFC Fight Night: Whittaker vs De Ridder On July 26, 2025
Davey Grant probably longs for the cold and rain of his native England right about now.
“We've been roasting,” laughed the bantamweight veteran, who faces Da’Mon Blackshear in Abu Dhabi this Saturday.
In the UAE for over a week, and in Las Vegas for a month before that, the 39-year-old from Bishop Auckland, is certainly acclimated to the heat, which will hit a high of 104 degrees Fahrenheit on fight day.
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You might wonder if this all matters when fighting inside a cooled arena, but it does, especially when a fighter has the experience edge on his opponent, Da’Mon Blackshear. So all the lead-up ultimately pays off on fight night.
“Oh yeah, a hundred percent,” said Grant. “I feel like I'm used to the weather because I was in Vegas, and it was absolutely boiling hot. And then I'm used to the time difference because my body must remember what's happening. I've got my little schedule, and I was already on time, so everything's been perfect.”
He’s also been on site before, having earned a Performance of the Night bonus for his third-round knockout of Martin Day on UFC Fight Island in July of 2020. Add it all up, and while Blackshear is nine years younger than the Brit and on a three-fight winning streak, Grant has some intangibles on his side heading into Saturday’s matchup. Another one of those is the fact that Grant has been itching for a fight since April, when his scheduled bout with Daniel Santos was pulled on weigh-in day when the Brazilian suffered issues with his weight cut.
“Yeah, it was a shame,” said Grant, whose last Octagon appearance was a decision win over Ramon Taveras in December of last year. “Definitely a strange one. But it is what it is. I've got no control over these things. You just never want to see anyone not make the fight due to medical issues or whatever happened. It's not ideal, but these things happen in fighting. There's so many twists and turns.”
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Grant has navigated those twists and turns better than most. It explains why he’s the last male fighter remaining on the UFC roster from The Ultimate Fighter season 18, as well as a relevant figure in one of the toughest divisions in the game. And through it all, he’s remained a pro and a gentleman. How has he pulled that off?
“I think it must just be lots of practice,” laughs the married father of three. “But when people are not involved in the sport, they don't understand the high and lows that come with it. It's one of the craziest things, and I absolutely love it. I love the ups, I love the downs, and you can't have one without the other. If it's someone's up, it's usually someone else's down. It’s the nature of the beast. And that's why the fans love it, and the fighters probably hate it. (Laughs) We've got a love/hate relationship with it.”
At the moment, Grant is loving it. He’s coming off a win, he’s got himself a fight, and it’s a matchup he liked when it was presented to him.
“He's got good momentum going, a three-fight win streak, so I feel like I'm fighting a good step-up towards where I need to be,” said Grant. “The last few fights, I've sort of been going behind people who will be trying to make their names off me, whereas Da’Mon has been about a bit, he's got his own good rep, so it's a good fight to go and propel one of us, for sure.”
Abu Dhabi Full Fight Card Preview
That’s the payoff from the fighters’ point of view, they get propelled forward in a tough division. As for our payoff, these two don’t disappoint, and Grant doesn’t expect to start now, wherever the fight goes.
“I'm ready for everything and anything,” he said. “And I'm going in there to knock him out.”
UFC Fight Night: Whittaker vs De Ridder took place live from Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on July 26, 2025. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!
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