In the best of all possible worlds, Drew Dober is the most popular fighter on the planet. His style, persona and career choices effectively serve as a tailor-made introduction for newer fans of the sport, simultaneously exposing them to a combination of high stakes reckless abandon and smooth technical mastery, that fuses effortlessly in a cocktail of attention-grabbing violence.
This mixture does not produce perfection-an abstract and often alienating ideal that only truly appeals to the most superficial fan- instead evoking the kinds of tangy idiosyncrasies that make fighters that much more appealing.
This applies verbatim to the discussion of Drew Dober, who combines his savant status on the feat, with a blood and guts gambler’s streak that has often coaxed him into fight-ending exchanges with the likes of Matt Frevola and Beneil Dariush. Yet despite many emphatic defeats, the king of the technical scrap has lost none of his momentum, despite his most recent loss to the streaking knockout artist, Jean Silver.
The Action Star
The rationality behind such uncaused momentum is not immediately clear, Dober is 35 (and thus teetering on the edge of the competitive cliff for the lighter weight classes), he sports a spotty 27-14 record and in his last two bouts he has been relegated to the Apex graveyard shift.
All this would suggest a fighter on the way out, facing declining popularity and waning patience within the UFC organisation, many would be forgiven for thinking that his time near the top of the sport was coming to an end.
Yet this is demonstrably not the case. Dober’s highlights and fight announcements regularly draw positive attention and extensive traction on social media, and he currently sits inside Tapology’s top 25 most popular active fighters, an impressive feat for a fighter who is yet to crack the top 10 of his own weight-class. So, what is powering this substrate of appreciation for a fighter who is surely at best, a divisional dark horse?
The explanation to this question is comprised of two factors, namely the undeniability of Dober’s fighting profile, and the mutations still underway in the perceptions and prejudices of your average fight fan.
Technical Breakdown
The former factor is a no-brainer, with it being nye-impossible to ignore the Drew Dober highlight machine spread across MMA social media. Its engine is undoubtedly powered by his hellacious boxing, made up of wide lefts to the body, straight shots to the solar plexus, 1-2’s to set up his entries and pull back right hands, his striking tool kit is comparably unwieldy in relation to the average UFC lightweight.
Nor is this technical reputation unearned, with there being clear signs of improvement between his 2021 loss to the relatively inexperienced Brad Riddell and his most recent win over Ricky Glenn, with a noticeable leap in his use of high kicks on entry and improved counter wrestling acumen. So, it would be an ignominious error to assume that because his style seems almost crafted to please the masses, that it must be one-noted, a reductive viewpoint that fails to grasp the melodies behind his nine big UFC knockouts.
Opponent Observations
But in his Jean Silva (a damaging striker riding a 10-fight win streak) Dober had certainly faced the music. Silva, a short notice replacement fighting up in weight, came into this matchup two weeks after his dramatic finish of perennial contender Charles Jordain. This fight was emblematic of Silva’s approach to combat, with a style that is aggressive, flashy and undisciplined, with the use of gimmicky but potent techniques such as jumping snap kicks, switch flying knees and the “tall man defence” of leaning back when faced with kicks. This expenditure was made possible thanks to the fundamental use of educated pressure, 1-2’s and the striking out of takedowns that underwrite his game.
Despite the scary imagery of Silva’s UFC 303 win, there were evident flaws to his game that Dober readily exploited, including active low kicking and kicks to the body, targeting the trailing leg and lengthened torso offered up by an opponent that is profligate with the tall man defence.
The Death Of The Journeyman
The additional, significantly broader factor behind Dober’s immense popularity involves a decline in the usage of the tenured “Journeyman” label. This title originated in the early 20th century, describing the legions of boxers earning a living through weekly regional contests. Inevitably the term transitioned to the world of Mixed Martial Arts during the 90’s, arguably assuming a greater degree of accuracy thanks to the decentralised regional layout of the first MMA promotions.
Unfortunately, the journeyman label came to represent a pejorative position, needlessly thrown onto talented fighters who nonetheless could never quite put it together. In a now bygone era, where “world f****ng domination” was an investor buzzword, many talented and exciting UFC fighters had little leeway regarding contractual security, meaning any number of barnburners would not save you from the chopping block during a poor run of form. This resulted in serious talents such as Robbie Lawler, Jorge Masvidal, and Tim Means being let go despite their undeniable quality, forced to return to the UFC via the regional circuit and forever branded by the journeyman mark.
This particular prejudice certainly hampered many a career, with figures like Masvidal and Lawler only receiving the praise they were due in the twilight of their fighting campaigns. In another era, Dober would have been an archetypal victim of these prejudices, forced to score devastating knockouts on the regional scene due to the scarcity of promotional resources and the corresponding scarcity in explorative attitudes.
A true change in perception arrived in the form of two unanticipated moments, the improvised “BMF” belt, and the APEX arena.
The rise of the Nate Diaz phenomenon, built upon his fearless fighting style and bouts with Conor McGregor, culminated in his callout of Jorge Masvidal for a BMF belt and an explosion of interest that gave a new grunge prestige to the idea of the journeyman. Suddenly your “hardcore status” within the popular fandom was confirmed by your appreciation for this alternate MMA world, where losses were no longer a valid indicator of the true merits of a fighting career. The BMF belt then, represented a certain “cool” factor, with UFC 244 acting as a triumphant showcase for an alternate genre of MMA, thanks to a card brimming with technical scraps put on by low to unranked fighters.
Equally, the weekly schedule and relatively sparce name value of the Apex cards has enabled relative unknowns to quickly build a substantive reputation based on flashy finishes and exciting fights. These individuals are unencumbered by the headline stealing superstars that are increasingly being shifted onto PPV, powering the rise of fighters like Terrence McKinney, another quintessential journeyman.
The Bottom Line
These factors working in tandem alongside Dober’s commitment to educated violence, ensure that his reputation remains strong despite recent losses, as the broader fandom increasingly looks to quality of fights, rather than the loss column, in assessing a fighter’s worth. Dober is certainly a major beneficiary of these developments, as he truly embodies the best facets of the fight game and will doubtless back that up despite defeat on July 13th.
