Dwight Grant (9-2) pulverizes Carlo Pedersoli, sending his mouthpiece flying with a first-round buzzer beater! The Contender Series grad is 8-1 in his last nine; he has finished seven of nine wins by knockout. #UFCPrague pic.twitter.com/7fEkt4NjpN
— Bulgogi Jones (@Hamderlei) February 23, 2019
Welterweights
Dwight Grant (10-2) vs. Calen Born (7-1)It is good to see Grant back in the Octagon, if only because he needs to keep his career moving. Grant has the type of knockout power that makes for an exciting prospect, but he can be a frustrating fighter to watch, owing to his tendency to keep things at a slow pace and only attack in bursts. That cost him his UFC debut—a controversial split decision loss to Zak Ottow at the tail end of 2018—but Grant quickly regained steam by scoring two wins in the next four months, blasting Carlo Pedersoli and getting an impressive decision win over Alan Jouban. The Jouban win figured to be a breakout victory that led to bigger things for Grant, but injuries have put him on the shelf for over a year; given that Grant is just a few weeks shy of his 36th birthday, that was time he probably could not afford to lose. Unfortunately for Grant, he takes a step back here in terms of profile against a late-notice replacement and UFC newcomer in Born. While Born has some interesting skills as a submission expert who can crack a bit, this figures to be a rough entry into the Octagon, as he is quite overmatched here in terms of size and horsepower. If Born turns out to be durable, this could be interesting, but otherwise, he just figures to get cracked early. The pick is Grant via first-round knockout.