Over a dozen years ago, season 18 of The Ultimate Fighter aired on Fox Sports 1. Davey Grant beat Danny Martinez to earn himself a spot in the house. The season would see him run to the finals and earn himself a UFC contract in the process. Now, all this time later, he’s one of three fighters left in the UFC – alongside of UFC champions Raquel Pennington and Julianna Pena.
When asked about where that longevity comes from, Grant mostly isn’t sure.
“I don’t know. I look after myself. I still feel like I’m getting better,” Grant said. “It’s crazy. I didn’t think this back when I was young, but then I’ve always thought I’m going to to base my career on how I’m performing, and I know I can still hang out with the best guys in the world.”
His ability to hang comes in part from his thirst for learning. With MMA being such a diverse sport, Grant feels like he keeps acquiring new information and adding tools to the toolbox.
“I feel like the way that my sparring goes, the way I’m still constantly working on new stuff – still just trying to get better,” he said. “MMA is such a broad spectrum, you’re never going to know it all. I’m just trying to soak up as much as I can for fighting and just for learning and coaching sake.”
A change of location has certainly aided in the process as well. While his time at SBG Bishop Auckland was vital, he’s now full-time coaching and training at Syndicate MMA in Las Vegas. Having all the resources of Vegas, a solid team of guys, and his whole family with him now – Grant is as happy as can be.
“I’m coaching like every day at Syndicate and I absolutely love the place and we’ve got the full family here in Vegas now. And I was always going to be a coach. I used to love coaching. I remember I had a job coaching soccer when I was about 11, 12 years old. Do you know what I mean? I was always sort of warm to it,” Grant explained. “I think I really like to help people. I really like to help people better their lives.”
He’ll look to show off all of that growth in the cage on Saturday. He fights dangerous newcomer Adrian Luna Martinetti and feels like he can get it done early.
“I’m going for the knockout the whole day along, you know what I mean? That’s what we all want,” he said. “You know, that’s the plan.”
You can catch that fight with Martinetti as part of the UFC Vegas 116 main card. That fight card starts at 5pm EST and airs on Paramount+.
You can hear the entire audio of this interview on the latest edition of the Top Turtle MMA Podcast. The interview airs at 2:01.