Newark — It wasn’t just physical turmoil that lightweight Grant Dawson endured at UFC 328.
As he entered Fight Week, Dawson also learned that he and his wife had lost their first child due to a miscarriage.
“My wife and I were expecting our first baby, and we found out on Monday that we lost the baby. So it’s been a rough week,” Dawson revealed during his UFC 328 post-fight appearance with the media. “My amazing wife soldiered through it, toughed it out, no emotion, got me through this, and I promised her a little vacation for us to go and do our thing.”
And so, after the win, Dawson (24-3-1) admitted to media outlets that “physically, I feel terrible. Emotionally, also a little terrible.”
The fight was a back-and-forth one, with Dawson hurt at points before he submitted former training partner Mateusz Rebecki. The adversity he overcame is a point of pride for Dawson, it seems.
“I’m happy with this one, because like I said in the cage, I think a lot of people think of me as skilled, I don’t think a lot of people think of me as tough, and I hope that that has answered that question to night.”
He’d go on to add that “I’ll never turn my nose to a win. We got the win, that’s what matters. Obviously I would like to knock everybody out in the first 10 seconds.”
When Dawson landed a head kick early in the first, he thought “this is going to be a good night.” After being knocked down in the second, the thought was “this is not a great night. And then third round, I was like ‘this is a great night.’ So I’m happy.”
As for fighting a former training partner, Grant Dawson suggested that there were only certain names he’d ever decline, including Mateusz Gamrot. Unless a title was on the line. Otherwise, “if you say yes, I’mma say yes,” he stated. “And he [Rebecki] said yes, so I said yes.”
Watch the full UFC 328 post-fight press conference with Grant Dawson above.
