Grant Dawson to Collide With Diego Ferreira at UFC 311 in California on Jan. 18

A few years later, the Ultimate Fighting Championship is trying again with an interesting lightweight tilt.

On Thursday, Fight Bananas brought to light the rebooking between Grant Dawson (22-2-1) and Diego Ferreira (19-5) for Jan. 18. The two 155ers will come to blows at UFC 311 inside of the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles. The pairing has since been confirmed by Dawson on his Instagram on Thursday. This will be the second attempt to put this bout together, as the two were previously booked for UFC Fight Night 193 in 2021 only for a Ferreira injury to scuttle the matchup.

Dawson bounced back from his first loss in years in a big way, outworking Joe Solecki and stopping Rafa Garcia in 2024. The defeat, a 33-second knockout to Bobby Green, put an end to a nine-fight unbeaten streak in the Octagon that included victories over names like Jared Gordon and Julian Erosa. With an 82% finish rate in tow, “KGD” worked his way to the promotion in 2017 as part of the first season of Dana White's Contender Series.

Turning 40 on fight night, Ferreira has found a new lease on life after a rough three-fight skid in 2021. The Brazilian by way of Texas came back in May 2023 to crush Michael Johnson, and one year later he handed the surging Mateusz Rebecki his first loss in a decade. While not amassing a stretch where Ferreira did not lose in nine outings, he did string together a six-fight win streak from 2016 to 2020, where he earned a place in the rankings thanks to wins over names including Anthony Pettis, Gordon and Olivier Aubin-Mercier.

UFC 311 currently has no headliner, although it is rumored that Islam Makhachev vs. Arman Tsarukyan 2 for the lightweight strap will serve in that main attraction spot. Other bouts likely to serve on the main card include a grappler’s delight at heavyweight between Jailton Almeida and Serghei Spivac, and a potential passing of the torch battle at 135 pounds as unbeaten Payton Talbott takes on perennial contender Raoni Barcelos.