Grant Dawson

Grant "KGD" Dawson built his name on a simple, brutal formula: take you down, hold you down and hunt the choke for as long as it takes. That pressure-grappling style carried him to a long unbeaten run early in his UFC career and pushed him toward the lightweight rankings.

A knockout loss snapped the streak, but Dawson reset and kept winning, beating quality names like Damir Ismagulov, Mark Madsen and Mateusz Rebecki. At around 23-3-1, he's a grinding, top-15-caliber lightweight who wins the rounds nobody else wants.

He's not for everyone - this is wrestling-and-control fighting at its most relentless. But for fans who appreciate the craft of dominant grappling and a smart, suffocating pace, Dawson is one of the most effective operators in the division.