The 28-year-old has long been synonymous with his previous team at Glory MMA in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, and his connection with that squad went far beyond just showing up for his sessions. He was a coach, training partner and cornerman for the James Krause-led squad, but after a listless performance against Ricky Glenn, Dawson felt it was time for a change.
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“I feel like I wasn’t happy in Missouri,” he said. “I was feeling burnt out, but I was ignoring it and then I went out and had a very, very bad performance in my last fight. I was good enough to not take a loss in my worst performance in the UFC, so that’s nice, but it was an eye opening situation for me and I decided that it was the final straw and I needed to make a change for my own mental health and my own career. I had to do what was best for me, and it was a very, very tough decision to make, but ultimately, I do believe it was the right one.”
Among his former team, there were mixed reactions, but the die was cast; Dawson was heading to the Sunshine State.
“I think half were shocked, and the other half were kinda like, you know, this is probably what’s best for you,” Dawson said. “They said, ‘Get some different looks, get some new looks, also get some better weather.’ A lot of people don’t know this about me, but in my last couple of years, I’ve just been getting sick so much, and I don’t think it’s because it’s cold. I think it’s because of the up and down weather that we have there. And so far – and I know it’s only been one camp – but so far in Florida, I haven’t even gotten a slight cold. So I do think it was the right decision for me to make for my health and for everything else and to progress my career.”
