Dustin Jacoby’s Rise and Struggle to Land a Main Card Slot
Dustin Jacoby has been on a tear through the UFC’s light heavyweight division in the last two years. Unfortunately, it seems that his win streak over solid opposition is just not enough for the UFC to bump him off of the prelims and give him the notoriety he deserves.
Jacoby (17-5-1) first got into the UFC after defeating Ty Flores on the 2020 season of Dana White’s Contender Series. Since then, he has gone undefeated in his last six UFC bouts. If we count Contender Series win along with wins in other promotions, the man has not suffered a loss since 2016.
Unfortunately, despite being a true contender in the light heavyweight division he has primarily remained on the prelims or early prelims throughout his UFC run.
After coming off of the contender series, Jacoby took on Justin Ledet and Maxim Grishin in preliminary bouts, defeating both rather handily.
At UFC Fight Night: Reyes vs. Prochazka, Jacoby did receive a main card slot and fought Ion Cutelaba to a split decision draw. Following this, he was back on the prelims against Darren Stewart. He defeated Stewart via first-round TKO.
For his fourth fight in 2021, Jacoby was back on the prelims against John Allan, ultimately defeating Allan by unanimous decision.
In his most recent bout, he took on Michal Oleksiejczuk at UFC 272. Jacoby defeated Oleksiejczuk by way of unanimous decision, pushing his undefeated record in the UFC to six.
Clearly, Jacoby is a contender in the light heavyweight division. It is time to not only bump Jacoby off of the prelims and early prelims but also through him in with the top 15 of the division.
For a division that is really not all that deep, I would favor Jacoby over several of the top 15. I would love to see him booked as the main card opener against someone of the likes of Jimmy Crute, Ryan Spann, or Johnny Walker.
Whoever his next opponent is, the UFC needs to realize the potential of Dustin Jacoby and put him on some main card slots. For a man who is undefeated in the UFC and has fought seven times in the last two years, that would be the least he deserves.
