5 Things You Might Not Know About Grant Dawson

Grant Dawson hovers somewhere outside the Top 15 in the Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight division, searching for platforms from which to launch himself into a higher competitive tax bracket.

The 30-year-old Dana White’s Contender Series graduate will toe the line against former Combate Global champion Rafa Garcia in a UFC Fight Night 244 lightweight showcase this Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Dawson enters the Octagon having won four of his past five bouts, a 33-second knockout loss to Bobby Green his only misstep. He last suited up on June 1, when he outpointed Joe Solecki to a three-round unanimous decision at UFC 302.

As Dawson moves ever closer to his looming showdown with Garcia at 155 pounds, here are five things you might not know about him:

1. Odds against him could not have been steeper.

Dawson was born Feb. 20, 1994 in Cambria, Wisconsin, a city of less than 1,000 people situated some 180 miles—roughly a three-hour drive—to the northwest of Chicago. It was once home to Gena Rowlands, a Golden Globe Award-winning and Academy Award-nominated actress who starred in “Another Woman,” “Hope Floats” and “The Notebook.”

2. Factors outside of his control steered him into the cage.

“KGD” excelled as a prep wrestler at the Cross County Community School in Stromsburg, Nebraska, where he compiled a 40-8 record as a senior. Due to his battle with dyslexia, Dawson elected to forego any college pursuits in favor of a career in mixed martial arts.

3. He enjoyed immediate extended success in combat sports.

Dawson made his professional MMA debut at the age of 20 when he put away Jeremiah Denson with a rear-naked choke in the second round of their Aug. 29, 2014 encounter under the Omaha Fight Club banner. He went on to win his first nine fights, all of them finishes, to establish himself as a person of interest on the Midwest regional scene.

4. Few relocations plans have reaped more benefits.

The 5-foot-10 lightweight once trained under James Krause at Glory MMA but now operates out of the famed American Top Team camp in Coconut Creek, Florida. There, Dawson has daily interactions with a wide variety of world-class coaches, from Marcus “Conan” Silveira, Marcos DaMatta and Steve Mocco to former World Extreme Cagefighting titleholder Mike Thomas Brown and onetime Strikeforce champion Muhammed Lawal.

5. He has grown accustomed to the comforts of home.

Only one of Dawson’s 24 career bouts has taken place outside the continental United States. He laid claim to a three-round unanimous decision over ex-Cage Warriors Fighting Championship titleholder Nad Narimani as part of the UFC Fight Night 172 undercard on July 18, 2020 at the Flash Forum in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.