Jacksonville, FL — After putting together a pair of wins in 2019, UFC welterweight Dwight Grant had just a single trip to the octagon last year, and it did not go his way.
After being scheduled to face Jared Gooden at UFC on ESPN 15, a last minute change of opponent left him up against Daniel Rodriguez. Grant wound up knocked out within a round. Though, according to “The Body Snatcher,” that kind of mishap is par for the course.
“Every fight I’ve had has some kind of weird thing,” Grant (10-3) said during this week’s UFC 261 media day. “I’ve had great finishes, but then I’ve had controversial wins too, and losses. So I’m ready to just go put stamps on every fight.”
Grant has a new mentality heading into his fights. “I’m fighting for the finish now. I’m not fighting just to knock people out and knock them down, I’m fighting to knock them completely out and finish the fight,” he explained. “I think I’m trying to make more statements like that moving forward.”
The change in mindset came about due to the result of his last fight. He’s changed from viewing things as a competition, with rules where this or that could happen, to “this is a fight, and I’ve got to make sure that I win.”
Grant also loves the match-up with Stefan Sekulic this weekend.
“I watch a lot of tape. I like fighting guys like this,” he stated. “These are the kind of guys I’ve been training to fight my whole career. I started off as a striker, and people tried to take me down all the time. So that’s one thing. But what makes him extra special is that, his striking is kind of like a karate style. It’s not stand-up boxing. And these are the people that I excel against the most, because that’s kind of my background.”
Watch the full UFC 261 media day scrum with Dwight Grant above. The event takes place this Saturday, April 24 at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida. The main card airs live on PPV.
