Grant Dawson

Grant Dawson (born February 20, 1994) is an American mixed martial artist currently competing in the Featherweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Born and raised in Stromsburg, Nebraska, Dawson competed in high school wrestling, finishing his senior season with a record of 40-8.

Early career

After compiling an amateur record of 8-1, Dawson started his professional MMA career in 2014. He amassed a professional record of 11-1 prior to participating in Dana White's Tuesday Night Contender Series.

Dana White's Tuesday Night Contender Series

Dawson appeared in Dana White Contender Series - Season 1, Episode 6 web-series program. He faced Adrian Diaz on August 17, 2017 and won the fight via a submission in round two.With the win, Dawson was offered a UFC contract.

Ultimate Fighting Championship

Dawson made his UFC debut on November 30, 2018 at UFC Fight Night: Lewis vs. dos Santosagainst Julian Erosa. He won the fight via unanimous decision.

His next fight came on May18, 2019 at UFC Fight Night: dos Anjos vs. Lee against Michael Trizano.He won the fight via a rear-naked choke in round two.

Dawson was scheduled to meet Chas Skelly on January 18, 2020 at UFC 246. However, Dawson was flagged by USADA the second times where the initial flagging was in November 2017 for a residual metabolite of the steroid Turinabol which it was subsequent cleared by USDADA for not able to determine when Dawson had ingested the banned substance, and that resulted in the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) pulling bout from UFC 246. The subsequent finding from USADA found no evidence of performance enhancement of a re-ingestion of a banned drug. However,NSAC would revisit the matter in July, 2020 to determine to issue Nevada fighter licence Dawson and Dawson would have to undergo testing twice a month. The bout was rescheduled on February 29, 2020 atUFC Fight Night: Benavidez vs. Figueiredo at Norfolk, Virginia.On February 7, 2020 it was reported that Skelly was injured during one of his training session and was forced to withdraw from the event, and he was replaced by promotional newcomer Darrick Minner. At the weigh-ins, Dawson also failed to make weight, coming in at 149.5 pounds, 3.5 pounds over the featherweight non-title limit of 146 pounds. He was fined 30% of his fight purse, which went to Minner and the bout proceeded at a catchweight. Dawson won the fight via a submission in round two.