T.J. Grant, the Forgotten Title Challenger (UPDATED).

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Earlier this week, I was on Fight Pass looking for fights I haven't seen in a long, long time. Watching random bouts and typing in random fighter names in the search bar, I ended up on T.J. Grant vs. Gray Maynard.

The synopsis of the fight stated that it was a title eliminator. I knew this at the time. I probably knew this last year. After a few beers that night, I did not. I fired up the fight. Wow. Grant looked amazing. I fired up the fights on his win streak, and he looked just as good.

I then went down the rabbit hole on Google because I think I have issues with enjoying MMA far too much and came upon a free article from the Athletic about T.J. and it compelled me to post this thread.

Suredawg is constantly brimming with hate for fighters win or lose. We're such a passionate and particular bunch of an esoteric, odd part of the sports world, but boy do we love this sport.

I couldn't help but feel horrible for T.J.

I enjoyed those fights at the time. He was a very good fighter. Dreams deferred. Hopes dashed. If you're ever interested in the yesteryear of MMA and talent that should've, but never culminated in greatness due to misfortune, this is it.



Back in 2013, a little more than a month after then-UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson beat Gilbert Melendez to defend his title, a No. 1 contender bout to determine his next opponent went down in Las Vegas. It featured Gray Maynard, the oversized lightweight who came as close as you can to winning a title two years earlier against Frankie Edgar at UFC 125, and soft-spoken Canadian T.J. Grant, who’d won four straight fights since making the drop from welterweight.

“It’s just a testament to hard work and being in the sport a long time,” Grant said during an interview that week, just after UFC President Dana White declared the fight a title-eliminator. “To be fighting on the pay-per-view and to be fighting Gray Maynard, and on top of that what’s at stake, it’s just incredible.”

All of it was excellent in terms of timing, too, as plenty of eyes were on the division. Anthony Pettis was emerging as a star at just the same time, and would end up gracing the front of Wheaties boxes later that year. Josh Thomson was rolling along, and of course Henderson was talking about breaking all of Anderson Silva’s records.

Grant? He had materialized almost out of nowhere. He beat Shane Roller and Carlo Prater in his initial lightweight bouts, and had overcome Evan Dunham in a great fight up in Canada. After he knocked out Matt Wiman to kick off 2013 — showcasing the power he was packing in his hands and elbows — people were paying attention to his fight with Maynard. Grant had suddenly come into focus.

UFC commentator Joe Rogan called him the “dark horse” of the division. He was a quiet, blue-collar type who — with his ginger beard and expressionless features — looked more like Ulysses S. Grant than an actual contender.

And when he went out there and stood in the pocket with Maynard, it was eye-opening. Maynard was throwing heavy leather, wild uppercuts from the crouch, trying to take out Grant spectacularly. Grant absorbed a couple of ear-ringing shots but just as coolly returned fire, connecting with counter rights. He landed a crisp right hand that stunned Maynard. Then he landed another one that dropped Maynard. From there it was an unheralded fighter from Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, unleashing every burden he’d ever collected. Power shots from the clinch. Knees. Short rights on the careening Maynard, who sagged in bewilderment on the fence. A knee sent Maynard bolt upright on his feet, and another right hand chopped him back down.

It was over. The dark horse had cut right through Maynard.

T.J. Grant, who was 29 at the time and just entering his prime, made his statement. He was next. The UFC booked him against Henderson for UFC 164, but before the hype could build at all, Grant was forced out after sustaining a concussion in training. In his stead, Pettis stepped in and took the title from Henderson in front of his hometown faithful in Milwaukee.

With the window already beginning to slide down, the UFC then redirected Grant toward a title bout with Pettis for December, the same month that Wheaties unveiled the UFC’s “Showtime” champ on the box.

That wasn’t to be, either. With lingering symptoms from the concussion, Grant couldn’t go through with the fight. The window thundered shut. By April 2014, he was out of the UFC rankings. His status became a question mark. Thoughts of titles evaporated like distant memories.

Grant never fought again.


https://www.google.com/amp/s/theathletic.com/1749445/2020/04/15/whatever-happened-to-ufc-contender-tj-grant/?amp

--------------------------------------------

UPDATE VIA @ComfortablyNumb55

https://theathletic.com/1749445/2020/04/15/whatever-happened-to-ufc-contender-tj-grant/

Looking back over his career, which spanned 26 total pro fights — 11 in the UFC, with six of those occurring at welterweight — Grant has some memories. He has some war stories, and some harrowing tales of looking at his paychecks in soul-crushing disbelief. One of the things he couldn’t justify beyond the head trauma was the pay a fighter like him — quiet, somewhat reserved, not wholly charismatic — earns in the octagon.

“I walked away from UFC 100, which was my fight with Dong Hyun Kim, with like a $2,600 check,” he said. “That kind of just…yeah, that hurt. It paid for the MRI. It paid for an MRI, and that’s at least $200. After that and taxes, I got a $2,600 check. And I was going up to my room to have a shower at the Mandalay Bay, and I just cried by myself. I was thinking, what the hell am I going to do?”

Such a sad story.
 
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What came from this was Pettis's run. Winning the title in his hometown against old rival Bendo and looking like the next big thing during his reign. He was even on a box of Wheaties and everything.
 
What came from this was Pettis's run. Winning the title in his hometown against old rival Bendo and looking like the next big thing. He was even on a box of Wheaties and everything.

They even tried to make Pettis/Grant.
 
If youre just judging fighters by their best he has a strong case for 3rd best Canadian fighter ever behind GSP and Rory,

Ppl forget how close he fought Johny Hendricks @ WW too. Prolly shouldve been a draw and he lost a point for a kick to the nuts
 
If youre just judging fighters by their best he has a strong case for 3rd best Canadian fighter ever behind GSP and Rory,

Ppl forget how close he fought Johny Hendricks @ WW too. Prolly shouldve been a draw and he lost a point for a kick to the nuts

I actually watched that fight. Johnny was about to go on an epic run and T.J. did well in that fight and proved his toughness. I had Grant winning the first and possibly the second, that third round though... doh.
 
They even tried to make Pettis/Grant.


Yup, it's weird how things work out. Grant's missed opportunity changed Pettis's life. I don't know who was around at the time but man, Pettis had big star potential. This was before some Irish lunatic came along and (like it or not) really eclipsed almost everyone.

Very sad for Grant though.
 
I haven’t forgotten about him. I was always waiting for him to make his comeback but he never came back to fight again. He was talented could of been champ
 
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I haven’t forgotten about him. I was always waiting for him to make his comeback but he never came back to fight again. He was talented could of been champ

Fair enough. I guess I was wrong with the title.

I'm just trying to work something different into this sub forum lol.
 
I think he's trying to be difficult, but he's definitely entitled to his opinion.
On Sherdog? Say it isn't so. You know we snark first and then *maybe* settle in to reasonable discussion. Its wonderful when it happens - kinda (kinda) like guys respecting each other after they get in a scrap - but mostly its gang warfare in here. You're a great poster. Good luck as a Mod.
 
He would have won the title, whooped everyone up until he uppercuts Khabib’s panic wrestling and then rides off in the sunset.
The timeline has been ruined, so many things have happened that weren’t supposed to. Trumps Presidency, which caused them to get the last Andre no chrome supply to make Biden seem sentient still, COVID, Conor’s leg break, Khabib winning the “title” against #13 Al Aiquinta and Anakin losing to Kenobi.
 
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