Inglewood – UFC lightweight Grant Dawson had a name ready to call out following his decision victory over Diego Ferreira at UFC 311 on Saturday night.
As luck would have it his target happens to be the one man who was left out in the cold after the matchup shuffle at the top of the card. Beneil Dariush was the odd man out after Renato Moicano stepped into the main event on short notice.
Dawson (23-2-1) would have loved to take a fight with Dariush on short notice.
“If they (the UFC) had came to me and said will you step up and fight Beneil I would have said yes,” Dawson told reporters including Cageside Press at his post-fight scrum.
“They didn’t ask. Better case scenario I get to fight Diego, who I was preparing for, and now I get to fight Beneil with a camp.”
Dariush said, after losing out on his fight, that the UFC paid him his show and win money for his troubles. Dawson still hopes the fight materializes for him sooner than later. Dariush said he was told the UFC had ‘something big’ for him.
“I didn’t hear that about the something big, but good for him. I hope he gets something big man he’s a vet and he’s fought everybody, anytime, anywhere. I’m one of the anybodies,” he said.
“Maybe it’s me, maybe he gets something bigger with a big name, I’m super happy for him. There’s enough wealth and riches to go around for everybody. If I get somebody else, I get somebody else.”
Maybe Dawson needs to change his callout strategy.
“What I need to do is just start calling out people that I’m afraid of, that I don’t want to fight, because I never get anybody I call out,” he said with a laugh.
“The next person I call out I’m probably afraid of that dude because I’m not going to get him.”
Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Grant Dawson above.