Damir Ismagulov, Grant Dawson to Toe the Line at UFC on ESPN 48 on July 1

The winner of this upcoming Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight tilt
could crack the top 10 with a solid performance.

On Thursday,
MMA Junkie first broke the news that Damir
Ismagulov (24-2) and Grant
Dawson (19-1-1) would be meeting at
UFC on ESPN 48 on July 1. The event will take place inside of
the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, and the lightweight duel is expected to
be placed on the main card. Both fighters
confirmed
the pairing shortly after its announcement.

Ismagulov was excited about the fight, stating on his Instagram, “Back to
UFC Fight Night – July 1, 2023. Top 15 opponent. Another challenge.
All or nothing, as we say, debts must be repaid. Fighting for my
future. All or nothing! Chance to prove what I can do to wrestlers
when I’m 100% Let’s go!”

The Orenburg, Russia, native suffered his first loss since 2015
when he came up short against Arman
Tsarukyan at the final UFC card of 2022. That unanimous
decision loss snapped a 19-fight win streak, including five in the
Octagon over the likes of Thiago
Moises, Guram
Kutateladze and Joel
Alvarez as he worked his way through the 155-pound category.
Although the 32-year-old flirted with retirement after the defeat,
citing health issues, he rescinded that shortly thereafter and even
called for a rematch with Tsarukyan. The Boets MMA fighter has
heard the final bell in all six of his UFC appearances to date,
with his last finish coming by injury over Artem
Damkovsky in 2018.

Dawson was very respectful of his opponent, writing, “Bags out
of the cat. Dawson (15) vs Damir (12) July 1st in Vegas. Very tough
fight ahead of me and I am ready for this challenge. I think very
highly of Damir and am ready to show how much better I have gotten
since joining the best team in the world at ATT.”

“KGD” has yet to taste defeat since joining the roster back in 2019
off of the first season of Dana White’s Contender Series. With seven wins
and a draw to his credit this far with the promotion, Dawson’s 2022
campaign went swimmingly as he landed two third-round rear-naked
chokes on Jared
Gordon and the previously undefeated Mark O.
Madsen to impress the UFC brass. The American Top Team trainee
sports a stellar finish rate of 89%, far above his prospective
foe’s of 54%.

UFC on ESPN 48 goes down on July 1 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas,
where Sean
Strickland and Abusupiyan
Magomedov will square off in its middleweight main attraction.
While several additional fights have been booked, the card order is
far from complete. Additional pairings that may grace the main card
include a welterweight scrap between Max Griffin
and Michael
Morales, a middleweight collision pitting Abdul
Razak Alhassan against Brunno
Ferreira and a women’s flyweight matchup as Ariane
Lipski faces Melissa
Gatto.