34-year old Canadian Jesse Ronson has finally got his return call back to the UFC after 7 long years of waiting.
The first call came when John Makdessi was ruled out of his bout against Carlos Diego Ferreira on December 8th, 2018 and Ronson was scheduled as the replacement fighter.
Unfortunately, his opportunity never came as Ronson was forced to pull out due to weight cutting complications.
Ronson is hoping the second time is the charm.
The Body Snatchers First UFC Run
Born on the streets of London, Ontario, The Body Snatcher made his UFC debut on September 21st, 2013 at UFC 165.
He lost all three of his UFC appearances to Michel Prazeres, Francisco Trinaldo and Kevin Lee all by split decision.
Regional Scene Success
Jesse Ronson has gone 8-5 in a number of promotions including PFC, XFFC and TKO MMA where he captured the Lightweight and Welterweight championships. He most notably fought under PFL in 2019.
The Body Snatcher is coming off a rear-naked choke victory in BTC, Ontario’s premier fighting promotion.
“I was one dimensional back then with some good defence,” Ronson said when asked how he felt he has evolved as a martial artist.
“Now I’m very well-rounded. My wrestling and BJJ are as good as my striking. I’m comfortable everywhere.”
He says his biggest improvements were made on the mat.
“I was a 2-stripe white belt in BJJ during my first run in the UFC. Now I’m a 2-stripe brown belt that subs black belts and out wrestles university wrestlers.”
Return to the UFC
Jesse Ronson is scheduled to face Nicolas Dalby as he replaces Danny Roberts on July 25th at UFC Fight Night: Whittaker vs. Till.
Even with the complications of COVID, Ronson says his routine is identical.
“Training hasn’t changed for me. During COVID I was only training once a day. The next three weeks I’ve ramped it back to two a day.”
Dalby is set to be Jesse Ronson’s biggest test to date as he holds a 23-3 professional record.
Similar to Ronson, Dalby was previously released from the UFC back in 2018 when he lost a split decision to Carlo Pedersoli Jr.
However, Dalby has already made his UFC return beating Alex Oliveira by unanimous decision in September of last year.
