UFC bantamweight Davey Grant is hoping a string of wins can set up an eagerly anticipated trilogy fight with Marlon 'Chito' Vera.
Grant looks to rebound off of consecutive losses this Saturday night when he fights fellow UFC veteran Louis Smolka in Las Vegas. The Brit has spent seven weeks training in Sin City for the fight, working with some of the best fighters in the world at Syndicate MMA.
Vera recently broke into the top five at 135-pounds after outpointing Rob Font to pick up his third straight win. Grant first beat Vera in 2016, but the Ecuadorian avenged the loss in their rematch last June. Grant is now hoping three consecutive wins can earn him a deciding fight with Vera.
“That would be great to go and get the rubber match on," Grant told Mirror Fighting. "I beat him first time and then he won the rematch. I’m sure he would be up for it, the only thing is the trajectory of his career has gone up so much since we fought.
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"I probably need to win my next three fights and one of those has to be against a guy ranked in the top ten in order for that fight to make sense again.
"From my point of view, I definitely want to get that on. I'm sure he would as it would be a big fight. The last one between us was a good fight, we’re one and one, it makes sense. I’m just going to try and work my way up to that."
Grant, who is a fan favourite because of his exciting fighting style, admits that he doesn’t like to just win and would rather be involved in a “barnstormer”. The 36-year-old recognises he is approaching the end of his career, but insists he feels better than ever.
"I'm getting on now and I want to have fights that I can watch with my kids in 10 years on say ‘wow, that was a scrap, a real barnstormer’. I'm not worrying about making everything perfect when I fight, because it's not going to happen. I just want to have some fantastic fights, that’s what I’m about these days."
“Age is just a number and I still feel really young, I still act like a kid! I’m getting better and working my way to some great performances against some top guys. MMA is such a broad spectrum and experience is a huge key, a lot of guys in the UFC are now proving themselves at later ages."
Watch Davey Grant take on Louis Smolka at UFC Vegas 54: Blachowicz vs. Rakic on Saturday April 14, live on BT Sport 1. Coverage starts from 1am with prelims on UFC FIGHT Pass starting at 12:30am.
