Cub Swanson is moving back up to featherweight and announced a fight with Hakeem Dawodu at UFC Vegas 78, confirmed by MMA Fighting.
Cub Swanson is gearing up to return to the featherweight division. The announcement was made by Swanson himself on his Instagram on Tuesday, with a scheduled face-off against Hakeem Dawodu at the upcoming UFC Vegas 78 on August 12. The confirmation soon followed from sources who are privy to the situation.
The latest outing of Swanson (28-13) saw him competing in UFC Vegas 62, where he succumbed to Jonathan Martinez via TKO stoppage as a result of leg kicks. This match marked Swanson’s debut in the UFC bantamweight. Swanson had engaged in bouts at 135 pounds at one time early in his career but had refrained from returning to the category since his shift to featherweight in 2006. It’s in the featherweight division that Swanson has seen a predominant share of his victories, with a tally of nine Fight of the Night bonuses and three Performance bonuses cumulatively across his 29 fights in UFC and WEC.
On the other hand, Dawodu (13-3-1), too, is entering the forthcoming face-off following a loss, having been defeated by Julian Erosa at UFC 279 after he fell short of maintaining the 145-pound weight limit. Prior to his tenure in UFC, he was a kickboxer and a competitor in WSOF. Since his induction into UFC in 2018, Dawodu’s record stands at 6-3. The main event of UFC Vegas 78 is expected to feature a welterweight match-up between Vicente Luque and the former lightweight champion, Rafael dos Anjos.