Las Vegas, NV – UFC lightweight Damir Ismagulov has come out of a very short-lived retirement to take on Grant Dawson at UFC Vegas 76 on Saturday night.
Ismagulov (24-2) gave a vague reason as to why he went away for a bit choosing to keep it private as a family matter. The break did help him get his mind right and back to fighting.
“Yeah it was a life situation, a personal family type situation, where I decided where maybe it was time for me to hang it up,” Ismagulov told reporters through a translator on Wednesday.
“But a little time passed and I realized that I cannot live without it. Fighting is what I do. Fighting is my life so I decided to come back, come back stronger, come back and be doing what I’m supposed to be doing.”
Ismagulov returns to take on a stylistic matchup of striker vs. wrestler against Dawson. The challenge he believes is what he needs to prove a point.
“I never chose my opponents. This is who they gave me, this is who I accepted. Yes it’s once again a grappler, a wrestler, but I’m not saying that I don’t have those skills or I’m not underestimating my own skills in grappling and wrestling,” he said.
“I’m ready. I’m going to come out. I’m here to smash him.”
Ismagulov revealed that this is the last fight on his contract. One can imagine that an impressive victory will bring a big contract, and the promise of big fights ahead.
“This is the final fight in my contract so I’m ready to fight like this is the last thing that I’m going to do in my life. My goal is to clean out the lightweight division. I think that I’m dangerous. I think that I’m a good fighter. I think that I can stand against anybody in this division,” said Ismagulov.
When pushed for a name for the “anybody” he described only one came out.
“I’d love to fight (Justin) Gaethje,” Ismaguov said.
“Gaethje is considered to be one of the best strikers in lightweight division. He thinks that he’s one of the best, but if I get to fight against him I’ll play with him like a little kitten. It’s the easy fight for me.”
Watch the entire media day scrum with Damir Ismagulov above. He takes on Grant Dawson at UFC Vegas 76 from the UFC APEX on Saturday night.
