John Dodson signs with Bare Knuckle FC
Another former UFC fighter has joined the ranks over at Bare Knuckle FC. The promotion announced on their social media Friday that John Dodson is the newest signee.
🆂🅸🅶🅽🅴🅳 @JohnDodsonMMA is taking off the gloves 👊 pic.twitter.com/ObsdYp7UFe
— Bare Knuckle FC (@bareknucklefc) June 3, 2022
Dodson spent nine years in the UFC. He got his start on the fourteen seasons of The Ultimate Fighter, Team Bisping vs. Team Miller. He won that season with a TKO win over future champion TJ Dillashaw to become the first-ever bantamweight TUF winner. After TUF, Dodson moved to flyweight where he would spend a good chunk of his career. With two wins over top contenders, he earned his first title shot against former champion Demetrious Johnson. Unfortunately for him, he lost that title shot but continued on as one of the best 125-pounders in the UFC. He did receive another shot at Johnson a few years later but again lost.
In his UFC run, Dodson faced some of the best the UFC had to offer. In 2020 following a loss to Merab Dvalishvili, he was released from the organization. Since his UFC release, he has fought twice with XMMA. With one win and one loss in XMMA, Dodson is now ready to switch it up a bit. Dodson was known for his striking during his MMA run and could be a tough test for anyone in the BKFC.
The move to bare-knuckle is not that too hard to believe. Many other fighters have been making this leap lately and Dodson is just the latest former UFC fighter to join BKFC in recent years. He will join the likes of Paige VanZant, Jimmie Rivera, and Chad Mendes.
There is no date yet as to when John Dodson will be making his bare-knuckle debut. The next BKFC event is set to be held on June 11 and features a heavyweight main event between Alan Belcher and Frank Tate.
