Kicking off the UFC Fight Night 169 card, Grant Dawson and Darrick Minner set the tone for an exciting evening of fights — all of which ended by submission or TKO finish. Dawson was originally booked to fight Chas Skelly at UFC 246 in January, but their match was rebooked for the end of February. Citing injury, Skelly pulled out of the fight and Darrick Minner stepped in on less than two weeks' notice.
Minner came out looking for a guillotine choke and he came close in the opening minute of the bout. Dawson got loose and wound up in the top position, but Minner would continue to look for submissions from his back. He scrambled into another guillotine attempt, but Dawson escaped again. Dawson ended the round with a strong finish, landing a series of hard strikes before attempting his own submission at the horn.
In the second round, Dawson took advantage of another Minner guillotine attempt. He took the fight to the canvas, moved to mount, and transitioned to his opponent's back where he was able to sink in the rear naked choke. At 1:38 of round two, Minner tapped.
With the win, Dawson, who came into the fight overweight at 149.4 pounds, moved to 15-1. Minner fell to 24-11.