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

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?”

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

Such a sad story.
 
Won 5 in a row before UFC punished him for getting concussed and having to pull out of two fights.

He thought everything was copacetic until they cancelled his UFC fight pass.

His effing fight pass was cancelled!
 
U Fight Cheap. Glad he's doing ok. Definitely one of the biggest what ifs.
 
ComfortablyNumb55 said:
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?”

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

Such a sad story.
Click to expand...

I made this thread a while back. Good idea.
 
Substance Abuse said:
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.






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/
Click to expand...

Solid post
 
Grant kind of crept up quietly. He’d had losses in another division and didn’t have a particularly flashy style or one obvious strength. He was on a winning streak but it wasn’t huge and there wasn’t really that big flashy moment. But when you watch the tape he was obviously going to be a problem.

He had a great frame for the division which you can see against Maynard, who was a big lightweight himself. He definitely had pop for the division. And he was getting better. Looks like he was around 30 for his last fight.

Beating Maynard at 155 when he did was a lot like getting past Mendes at 145 during the Aldo era or Fitch at 170 during the GSP era. The only guy to beat Gray was Frankie and they were 1-1-1 against each other. Gray had beaten Edgar, Florian, Nate, Guida, Miller, Huerta and Clementi (who was on a six fight winning streak at the time), basically a who’s who of lightweight contenders under Penn and Edgar. He should be remembered with Fitch, Mendes, Ferguson, Romero, etc. as the greatest UFC fighters never to hold an undisputed title.

Gray was also very good early, Frankie had nothing for him in the first round of their fights and was lucky to survive. So for TJ to finish him early like that was a real eye-opener.

Really difficult to say how the division would have gone from there. Benson vs TJ would have been great. Pettis would have had a big speed advantage but TJ was perfectly capable of executing the game plan that eventually proved to be Anthony’s downfall (who knows if he would have). RDA vs TJ would have been great. By that point I’m guessing TJ would have been a little too long in the tooth to survive the next wave of contenders, but he definitely could have changed the trajectory of the division.
 
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