Las Vegas, NV – Back in the octagon after a bizarre result to his last bout UFC lightweight Grant Dawson looks to leave no doubt at UFC Vegas 53 against Jared Gordon on Saturday night.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday at the UFC APEX Dawson talked about the lessons learned in his last fight, and what he looks to show against Gordon.
“I think that it (the last fight) showed that I have holes in my game that I needed to fix. I definitely think the change up in camps and I think moving to Florida has really done that. I’m super excited about this fight because I get to show the improvements that I made. I was lucky enough to learn these lessons without taking an official loss. I dominated the first two rounds, he dominated the third round. It’s the first time I ever lost a round in my career,” Dawson said.
“I think there’s a lot of lessons to be learned from it, I think I’ve learned those lessons, I think I’ve made the changes I needed to make without suffering a loss.”
Dawson fought against Ricky Glenn in Oct 2021 where he seemed to coast through the first two rounds of the fight. In the third Glenn was able to mount a pretty dominant performance and the judges saw it fit to rule the bout a majority draw.
“It’s hard. I am my biggest critic and I know every single fighter known to man says that, but I really am. I’ve never had a performance that I’ve walked away from and said ‘Ok, I’m good with that one.’ I’m always critiquing myself and I’m always trying to get better. Whether it’s actually in the fight, if it’s before the fight, if it’s during camp, there’s always something that I’m trying to take away and get better at. I think that’s what world champions do,” Dawson said.
This Saturday night he looks to show those improvements against Jared Gordon who comes in riding a three-fight win streak and has a habit being involved in grind-out fights.
“He’s very good. I think he’s the most well-rounded fighter that I’ve fought. He’s got very good cardio, he’s got very good striking, very good wrestling and he gets up really really well. He is an A+ fighter. My only knock on him would probably be that he doesn’t have a whole lot of finishes in the UFC. If you’re going to compare us next to each other I would say that’s the notch I have on him. I have more finishes, I’ve gotten more people out of there than him,” Dawson said.
“I am definitely going into this fight knowing how tough of an opponent he is, knowing how much skill and talent he brings to the table. Not overlooking him at all. I know how tough he is. Nobody else matters except Jared.”
