Grant Dawson capped one of the biggest wins of his UFC career with a heartbreaking revelation, sharing that he and his wife suffered a personal tragedy at the start of fight week.
Dawson submitted Polish action fighter Mateusz Rebecki in the third round at UFC 328, which took place at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The victory returned him to the win column and improved his overall record to 24-3-1, including a 12-2-1 mark in the UFC.
Speaking after the fight, Dawson revealed that he and his wife lost their unborn child on Monday of fight week. "My wife and I need a vacation, we went through a lot this week — we went through a little bit of a family crisis," Dawson said.
"My wife and I were expecting our first baby, and we found out on Monday that we lost the baby, so it’s been a rough week. My amazing wife soldiered through it, toughed it out, no emotion, got me through this, and I promised her a little vacation for us to go and do our thing."
Dawson described how he handled the emotional weight during fight week. "I’m going to sound like such a dick, but it wasn’t hard for me," he said. "It was compartmentalized, it was put away. We told our friends and family, and I’ll deal with it later. I was a bit emotional in the cage, and that had something to do with it."
The win may help move Dawson back toward the UFC lightweight rankings.
