A pair of rising and ranked UFC lightweight contenders will throw down in July as Damir Ismagulov is set to take on Grant Dawson at UFC Fight Night on July 1 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Two people with knowledge of the situation informed MMA Junkie of the booking Thursday but asked to remain anonymous as the promotion has yet to make an official announcement.
Ismagulov (24-2 MMA, 5-1 UFC) contemplated retirement after suffering his first octagon loss to Arman Tsarukyan this past December at UFC Fight Night 216, but it didn’t take long for the 32-year-old to walk back those thoughts. Prior to the setback, Ismagulov was on a 19-fight winning streak, including wins over Guram Kutateladze and Thiago Moises.
Dawson (19-1-1 MMA, 7-0-1 UFC), who now trains out of American Top Team, is unbeaten in the UFC. Dawson has finished three of his past four fights and is coming off back-to-back third-round submissions over Jared Gordon and Mark Madsen.
With the addition, the July 1 lineup includes:
- Abus Magomedov vs. Sean Strickland
- Melissa Gatto vs. Ariane Lipski
- Khusein Askhabov vs. Joanderson Brito
- Max Griffin vs. Michael Morales
- Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Brunno Ferreira
- Luana Carolina vs. Ivana Petrovic
- Grant Dawson vs. Damir Ismagulov