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Grant Dawson Is Ready For His Next Journey
Rising Lightweight Grant Dawson Believes He Can Begin The Next Chapter Of His Career At UFC Fight Night: Royval vs Taira
Grant Dawson has not been shy about sharing his knowledge of life in the UFC with up-and-coming fighters, and that’s easy enough when things are going smoothly, which they were for the first nine bouts of his career in the Octagon, but after a 33-second loss to Bobby Green, well, that threw a wrench in the works.
Dawson didn’t skip a beat, though, honestly assessing the defeat and moving on from it. And in June, he got back in the win column, decisioning Joe Solecki over three rounds. So, as “KGD” prepares for his Saturday bout with Rafa Garcia, what advice does he have for the young ‘uns?
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“Consistency,” he said. “That's something I've been repeating to myself. This is my sixth camp with American Top Team, and we're not changing a whole lot. We're being consistent, we're using the same partners, we're making sure that everything stays according to plan. So consistency is my best advice to younger fighters. You’ve got to be the first guy in and the last guy out. You’ve got to be the guy that shows up every day.”
Yes, I know that training isn’t supposed to be fun, but doesn’t that lack of change lead someone to get into a rut? How does Dawson keep things fresh for himself 24 fights into his pro career?
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“I don't know if things are fresh,” he said. “It's a pretty crazy sport, and I think that, in itself, keeps it fresh. But whether you feel like it or not, you show up every day and you keep doing your thing.”
Well, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. And the defeat to Green didn’t break anything for 30-year-old. He got caught by a top-level fighter and lost. It happens. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t feeling a certain way before the Solecki fight.
“I'd be lying if I said there wasn't a little pressure, because I was coming off of my first loss in almost eight years, and obviously you want to bounce back,” Dawson said. “I don't really believe in flukes that much, but I wanted to show that I'm better than the guy that showed up in the Bobby Green fight, and there's only one thing worse than losing and that's losing twice in a row. So there were nerves. But I tell people all the time that you're going to have nerves and you're not going to be able to control those nerves. What you can control is how you react to them. We walked to the cage and fought and we had a great fight.”
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And just like that, the stars in Dawson’s universe were aligned again. Now it’s back to the business of putting a world championship belt on the wall at the American Top Team gym in Coconut Creek, Florida. Nothing else matters.
“I didn't get into the sport to do anything other than win a world championship,” Dawson said. “Making money and breaking records and having friends is great, and I really appreciate all of those things. But I'm in this sport to win a world championship, and I think that next journey starts on October 12th.”
UFC Fight Night: Royval vs Taira took place live from UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 12, 2024. 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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