Honerable Mentions: Jonathan Martinez and
The ‘Newish’ Lightweights- Grant Dawson vs Ricky Glenn
Jonathan “Dragon” Martinez (13-4 MMA, 4-3 UFC)
Bantamweight (135lbs): 3-3 (UFC), Missed weight 2x in UFC
Featherweight (145lbs): 1-0 (UFC)
Jonathan Martinez (5’8″, 69.5″) has competed in most of his pro fights at or bellow 135lbs, especially before entering the UFC. Jonathan’s first four fights in the UFC were in the bantamweight division.
Martinez missed weight for his fight against Frankie Saenz in 2020. Martinez came in at a whopping 140.5lbs for the bout. In his next bout he took his only featherweight fight against a very credentialed Thomas Almedia and got the win.
Jonathan lost his last fight against Davey Grant by KO in March of 2021. It was a bantamweight bout.
Most recently, Martinez withdrew from his scheduled bout against Marcelo Rojo last month when he botched his weight cut coming in at 138lbs for the bout.
For UFC Vegas 41 the 27 year old Martinez will again be competing at 135lbs, so he will definitely be a fighter for fans to watch on the scale and to see how that excessive weight cut effects his chin come fight time.
Grant Dawson (17-1 MMA, 5-0 UFC)
Featherweight (145lbs): 3-0 (UFC), 1-0 (DWCS), Missed weight 1x in UFC
Catchweight (150lbs): 1-0 (UFC)
Lightweight (155lbs): 1-0 (UFC)
Grant Dawson, a Contender Series alum, has been on an absolute tear since entering the UFC. Dawson competed almost exclusively at 155lbs (outside of a couple fights) before competing at featherweight on DWCS in 2017.
Dawson stayed at featherweight until missing weight for his fight against Darrick Minner in Febuary of 2020. Dawson weighted in at 149.5lbs for the bout. After a catchweight bout at 150lbs, it looks like Dawson has found a home in the lightweight division with his 5’10” height and 72′ reach.
Ricky Glenn (22-6-1 MMA, 4-3 UFC)
Featherweight (145lbs): 3-2 (UFC), Missed weight 1x in UFC
Lightweight (155lbs): 1-1 (UFC)
Ricky Glenn is pretty much the opposite of Grant Dawson in that, virtually all of his most recent fights outside of the UFC (at least the 11 prior to entering the UFC) were at featherweight.
Glenn took his first fight in the UFC back in 2016 at lightweight against Evan Dunham. Glenn lost even though the fight won ‘Fight of the Night’ honors, and decided to drop back down to featherweight.
Ricky missed weight in 2018 coming in at 148.5lbs for his fight against Kevin Aguilar. So for Glenn’s next fight, and most recent one, he moved back up to lightweight. Now 32, its likely 155lbs is where the 6’0″ tall, Glenn will stay.
