UFC fans haven’t heard much from John Dodson since dropping his second kick at the flyweight can back in early September of 2015.
The 31-year-old indicated he would head back up to 135 pounds following a three-year stint and 5-2 record at flyweight, both losses coming to former bantamweight Demetrious Johnson.
At just 5’3″, Dodson has spent almost all of his career at 125 pounds, however his greatest success came up a weight class while competing on The Ultimate Fighter Season 14. Not only did Dodson go 4-0 with three knockouts on the show, his final finish came against none other than recent champion T.J. Dillashaw.
According to Ariel Helwani, who spoke briefly about Dodson on UFC Tonight, Bryan Caraway is a possible opponent in his return to the 135 pound division. While no date has been set, Helwani reported that talks are underway to book the bout in the spring.
Dodson is 17-7 but has lost just twice (to the aforementioned Johnson) since 2009, fighting out of JacksonWink in Albuquerque.
Caraway is 20-7 and has won three of his last four fights, including a surprising performance in his last fight in which he outboxed Eddie Wineland to a decision victory.
Should Dodson prevail over number seven ranked Caraway it would provide an interesting contender for the return of the King, Dominick Cruz. Not only does Dodson hold that finish over Dillashaw, he holds at least one other victory on the show against a legitimate fighter in Johnny Bedford, ending that one by knockout in the second round.
What makes Caraway such an interesting idea for the welcoming party is that he was also in the house for TUF 14, competing up a weight class at 145 pounds. The fighter dropped to bantamweight in 2012, going 4-2 since that time.
While there are a number of fighters ahead of Dodson in line for a crack at Cruz — undefeated Thomas Almeida, the trilogy with Urijah Faber, the rematch with Dillashaw, the undefeated but unsigned Aljamain Sterling, the soaring but injury prone Raphael Assuncao, the man who can beat everybody but Dillashaw in Renan Barao, and the returning young gun in Michael McDonald — it probably wouldn’t take more than one or two wins to make a claim for his own shot.
How do you see Dodson performing at 135 pounds? Is it a good move? Or should he have settled for “second best in the world” at 125?