The former featherweight prospect made some serious waves back in March with a last second KO victory over Leonardo Santos.
Since making his UFC debut back in 2019, Grant Dawson has been on a roll. The Glory MMA & Fitness trained fighter has won eight straight bouts, with five of those victories coming inside the Octagon, perhaps none more impressive than his most recent victory over former TUF Brazil winner Leonardo Santos.
Grant’s last second knockout victory over the former IBJJF silver medalist marked Santos’ first loss in MMA since 2009. And for Dawson it announced his entry as a potential lightweight hot prospect as well, after fighting his UFC career to date in the featherweight division. And it looks like the UFC is eager to test that prospect status with another strong step up in competition.
MMA Junkie reports that Dawson will return to action this October against 12th ranked lightweight Diego Ferreira. The 36-year-old Brazilian fighting out of Pharr, Texas crashed into the UFC rankings off a six-fight win streak, including victories over Mairbek Taisumov and Anthony Pettis. Unfortunately, recent outings to the Octagon haven’t seen a continuation of that success—with Ferreira currently riding two straight losses to Beneil Dariush and Gregor Gillespie.
UFC Fight Night 195 takes place on October 2nd. A location for the event has not been made official, although Dana White has suggested that the UFC would likely be riding out the remainder of their 2021 non-PPV schedule at the UFC Apex facility. The card is currently set to be headlined by a light heavyweight bout between Thiago Santos and Johnny Walker.