This past Saturday in the main event of UFC Vegas 80, we saw a showdown in the lightweight division. Top rising contender Grant Dawson (20-2-1) was looking to remain unbeaten inside the octagon as he took on the popular and charismatic Bobby Green (31-14-1).
Dawson entered the bout with a ton of momentum. Since joining the promotion, Dawson had gone 8-0-1 in nine fights. Originally, he was fighting in the featherweight division, but after some weight issues, he moved up to lightweight where he flourished. He rose all the way to the tenth ranking.
He took the main event against Bobby Green and many questioned the fight. Dawson was ranked tenth while Green wasn’t in the rankings. However, it was a main event spot against a popular name and Dawson figured this would help his case and image moving forward.
Unfortunately for Dawson, the worst case scenario played out. In less than 30 seconds, Green blasted Dawson with a brutal straight left hand that sent him down to the canvas. Green followed up with big shots and the fight was called off giving King Bobby Green the massive upset win at UFC Vegas 80.
What’s next after UFC Vegas 80?
This is an absolutely devastating loss for Grant Dawson. With a win, he was looking at facing top line competition on his way to potentially challenging for the lightweight title. Now that he’s lost, he’s fallen back to 15th in the rankings and he’s going to have to build himself back up.
Losing to Bobby Green isn’t the worst thing in the world, but the fashion in which he lost makes it pretty bad. So, now that he’s lost for the first time in the UFC, what’s next for Grant Dawson? Well, there’s actually an opponent in the top fifteen that makes a ton of sense for Dawson.
That would be Jalin Turner. Turner, like Dawson, was rising up the rankings at 155. However, back-to-back losses has him needing to reset as well. I believe it’s a good time for these two to be matched up. The winner would re-establish themselves while the loser would really need to take a step back and re-evaluate things. This is the direction I would go in if I was the UFC.