A rising UFC lightweight prospect does not plan on running into one contender.
Two reigning champions, a couple of hungry challengers, and a number of ranked contenders will be in action at UFC 323 this Saturday.
The final pay-per-view of 2025 and the ESPN era will conclude with Merab Dvalishvili’s history-making title defense against Petr Yan and Alexandre Pantoja vs Joshua Van for the flyweight gold.
Another marquee numbered event means an opportunity for some top prospects to make a statement on the undercard, and that includes lightweight Chris Duncan.
But the Scottish fighter may have already gotten himself in Dana White’s bad books with one fight week comment in Las Vegas…
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Chris Duncan won’t fight fellow UFC 323 star and teammate Grant DawsonDuncan has emerged victorious from five of his six UFC fights and will enter the December 6 event riding a three-fight winning streak. ‘The Problem’ trains at American Top Team (ATT), where he frequently shared the mats with lightweight legend Dustin Poirier.
Poirier’s teammate won a UFC bloodbath last time out, outpointing Mateusz Rebecki in their Fight of the Night contest to likely move to within touching distance of the top 15.
With the retirement of ‘The Diamond’, the possibility of Duncan running into his prominent teammate while climbing the ladder has been avoided. But Poirier was not the only figure close to the 32-year-old inside the rankings.
Grant Dawson remains at No. 13 and will look to boost his standing with his own outing at UFC 323 against Manuel Torres.
With both Duncan and Dawson lingering around the lower steps of contention, it is conceivable that the promotion may look to match them up in the future. But the Scottish prospect has told the matchmakers not to waste their time.
“I am not fighting Grant Dawson, no way. No way I’ll fight Grant Dawson,” Duncan told Full Send MMA during UFC 323 fight week.
“Grant Dawson is a really good friend of mine. Unless it’s for gold, (then) we’ll fight.
“Unfortunately, with the business we’re in, it’s fighting so people will take it personal,” he continued. “But I am not fighting Grant.
“Grant is a no go. There’s a lot of guys at ATT that are actually my friends as well. I will probably keep my feet firmly on the ground and say I am not gonna fight a couple of guys from the gym.”
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Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLCTom Aspinall frustrated Dana White with his ‘insane’ stance on fighting a teammateWhite’s fury over teammates refusing to fight one another was on display prior to Tom Aspinall’s return in October.
The UFC heavyweight champion said he would never fight training partner Ante Delija and would rather vacate his title.
White described Aspinall as “absolutely insane” for that stance while speaking to TNT Sports in Abu Dhabi.
“You know what I think about that before you ask me,” White said. “I hate that.
“Many friends, relatives, name it, have all fought each other before. It doesn’t determine whether you are friends with somebody or you hate somebody.
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“You’re competing against them to see who the best is,” he continued. “But that’s his decision, you know?
“To even think about vacating it because you don’t want to compete against somebody is absolutely insane, but he’s a grown man. That’s up to him.”
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