Two more losses in 2019 led into the pandemic year of 2020, and when he did return in March of last year, Dwyer was stopped by the late Elias Theodorou, leaving him on a four-fight slide and in desperate need of a break.
“I needed to take a step back — losing four fights in a row is a tough pill to swallow,” said Dwyer, who logged four appearances as an amateur under the BFL banner before turning pro and posting a 7-1 mark en route to getting called up by the UFC.
He took up a new trade and spent the winter working up north, taking a fight not even really crossing his mind.
He focused on his jiu jitsu, recently earning his brown belt from his longtime coach David Lea, and logged countless hours inside the Kelowna Boxing Club whenever he was back in town.
“I got a phone call from Dave Habib, who runs the Kelowna Boxing Club,” said Dwyer, recounting how he came to focus on his boxing during his self-imposed hiatus. “He asked if I wanted to come in and box with one of his guys — he needed sparring partners because he had a fight coming up — and I said, ‘Yeah, sure, I’ll come help out. I can go and spar a couple rounds; I’ve got that base cardio.’
“I went in there and I felt like I was drowning; the guy was relentless,” he said, laughing at the memory. “It was such an eye-opener for me in terms of what I could be doing with my boxing if I train with these guys and apply that to my MMA game.
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“I feel like I’ve improved everywhere so much,” he added. “I’m just a student of the arts, and trying to learn from all avenues.”
The first chance to display all that he’s learned during his time away comes on Thursday night, when he returns to the Battlefield Fight League cage to take on Van Dijk, a Belgian judoka with a 9-5 record in MMA that has faced off with a handful of past and present UFC competitors during his career.
It’s a full-circle moment for Dwyer, who earned a victory in the co-main event of the very first BFL show on May 15, 2010, defeating Sean Zubor by rear-naked choke just two minutes and change into the opening round. He would go on to win the welterweight title at BFL 19, successfully defending the belt once with a win over Shonie Carter before beating Ultimate Fighter alum DaMarques Johnson at BFL 30 in a middleweight contest that produced a call up to the biggest stage in the sport.
