Grant Dawson had "way easier fight" against Tony Ferguson in the works before scheduled Damir Ismagulov bout

Former interim UFC lightweight champion Tony Ferguson has fallen hard in recent years. After winning an impressive 12 fights in a row from 2013 to 2019, ‘El Cucuy’ has now lost his last five bouts in the octagon.

Ferguson is no longer ranked in the UFC’s top fifteen at 155lbs. As a marker of how far his reputation has slipped, he was recently slighted somewhat by No.15-ranked Grant Dawson.

In a snippet of an interview with FanaticsView that was posted to Instagram by MMA reporter James Lynch, ‘KGD’ spoke about being offered a fight with Ferguson before accepting a different opponent:

“Out of nowhere they were like, hey, what about Tony Ferguson? And I was like, yeah! Like, way easier fight, for more fame, more money...hell yeah, let’s do that! And so we were like, oh cool, we’re fighting Tony, and then that didn’t happen and then Damir (Ismagulov) was like, I’m still here, and I was like, yeah man, let’s do it.”

Dawson is now scheduled to fight No.12 ranked Damir Ismagulov at the July 1 UFC Fight Night event scheduled for Las Vegas.

Ferguson, meanwhile, is set to face off with Bobby Green a few weeks later at UFC 291 on July 29.

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Grant Dawson UFC record: could ‘KGD’ really beat Tony Ferguson?

Whether Grant Dawson is justified in labelling Tony Ferguson a “way easier fight” is up for debate. However, if ‘KGD’ is confident in his skills, it’s easy to see why.

Since debuting in the octagon in March 2019, the lightweight contender has put together a UFC record of 7-0-1, with the only blemish on his record being a draw with Ricky Glenn.

Dawson has not beaten any big-name fighters per say, but he has only gone the distance twice, and holds stoppage victories over Mark Madsen, Jared Gordon and Leonardo Santos.

Ferguson, on the other hand, has not won a bout since his June 2019 win over Donald Cerrone.

He has lost his last five fights, although four of his opponents (Justin Gaethje, Charles Oliveira, Beneil Dariush and Michael Chandler) are ranked higher than Dawson.

Dawson’s next foe, Damir Ismagulov, has a UFC record of 5-1 and is ranked three spots above ‘KGD’ at No.12.

Initially, he announced his retirement due to health issues earlier this year. He has since gone back on that and will complete his contract when he faces Dawson before hanging up his gloves.