A few years later, the
Ultimate Fighting Championship is trying again with an
interesting lightweight tilt.
On Thursday, Fight
Bananas brought to light the rebooking between Grant
Dawson (22-2-1) and Diego
Ferreira (19-5) for Jan. 18. The two 155ers will come to blows
at UFC 311
inside of the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles. The pairing has since
been confirmed by Dawson
on his Instagram on Thursday. This will be the second attempt to
put this bout together, as the two were previously booked for UFC
Fight Night 193 in 2021 only for a Ferreira injury to scuttle the
matchup.
Dawson bounced back from his first loss in years in a big way,
outworking Joe Solecki
and stopping Rafa Garcia
in 2024. The defeat, a 33-second knockout to Bobby Green,
put an end to a nine-fight unbeaten streak in the Octagon that
included victories over names like Jared
Gordon and Julian
Erosa. With an 82% finish rate in tow, “KGD” worked his way to
the promotion in 2017 as part of the first season of Dana White’s Contender Series.
Turning 40 on fight night, Ferreira has found a new lease on life
after a rough three-fight skid in 2021. The Brazilian by way of
Texas came back in May 2023 to crush Michael
Johnson, and one year later he handed the surging Mateusz
Rebecki his first loss in a decade. While not amassing a
stretch where Ferreira did not lose in nine outings, he did string
together a six-fight win streak from 2016 to 2020, where he earned
a place in the rankings thanks to wins over names including
Anthony
Pettis, Gordon and Olivier
Aubin-Mercier.
UFC 311 currently has no headliner, although it is rumored that
Islam
Makhachev vs. Arman
Tsarukyan 2 for the lightweight strap will serve in that main
attraction spot. Other bouts likely to serve on the main card
include a grappler’s delight at heavyweight between Jailton
Almeida and Serghei
Spivac, and a potential passing of the torch battle at 135
pounds as unbeaten Payton
Talbott takes on perennial contender Raoni
Barcelos.