See, there are no holds barred in Dawson’s assessment of the fight game, and when someone who made it the UFC talks about what it takes, it’s usually a good idea to listen, even if every situation doesn’t match his. But if one thing is made abundantly clear when it comes to Dawson, it’s that he has life outside the Octagon together, and that makes life in it presumably easier. And that ability to balance both didn’t start last week.
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“I’m from Stromsburg, Nebraska, and there were 27 kids in my graduating class,” he said. “That’s how much of a small, little nowhere town that nobody’s ever heard of is. If you watched a movie, you would say, this is BS. You can’t make it from a small, little town. I believe anybody can make it. I one hundred percent believe that anybody that is willing to put in the work and make sacrifices can make it in this sport. And when I say make sacrifices, I don’t mean don’t party. That’s a given. I mean, okay, this guy can’t get me to where I want to go, but he’s one of my best friends and I don’t want to hurt his feelings, so I’m going to stay with him. And then 10 fights later, you, you’ve lost 10 in a row and you kind of realize, shoot, now it’s too late. I’m talking about those guys that are like, I’m willing to lose these friends that I have in order to chase this dream. My entire wedding party was all Glory (MMA) guys. Every single one of them was Glory guys. And I talk to maybe one or two of them right now because I moved away and I changed my life and I did something different. And you lose friends when you do that. And I think people that are willing to make this type of sacrifice can do it.”
Dawson’s move from the Missouri camp to South Florida and American Top Team surprised some when it happened, but no one is questioning it now. Dawson’s a contender, he’s got a co-main event, and he’s rapidly rising in one of the UFC’s toughest divisions.
Maybe he knows what he’s talking about.
