Longtime fans of AJ Dobson may be wondering why he’s become such an action fighter in recent years.
Previously known for a more measured approach, Dobson had been on a three-win streak marked by first-round finishes leading into his UFC debut at UFC 271 – a loss to Jacob Malkoun. The more action-oriented style, he explained to The AllStar, was because he was gritting through a lingering knee injury.
“If you look at my last, you know, three or four fights, I barely did any moving,” Dobson said in an interview. “I was kinda just saying, I can’t move, I can’t kick like that, I’m just gonna stay in the pocket and throw, you know, you saw that in my Contender Series fight, how it was just wild like a drunken bar fight.”
His February loss to Malkoun prompted some self-reflection and a decision to finally get surgery to fix his knee. Some eight months later, he’s down to face Armen Petrosyan at UFC 280 and he’s excited to show fans his fully restored form. Dobson has completed every step of rehab and recovery, even though it progressed far slower than he would have liked.
Before the Malkoun bout, “I really was pretty injured going into that fight. I probably shouldn’t have taken it, I should have gotten surgery sooner but you know, I’ve had that injury for years prior and I’d fought on it before…but this is the UFC, I’m fighting against top opponents now and I have to give myself the best chance”.
Dobson surely isn’t the only fighter in the UFC to procrastinate spending the time and money to get surgery for lingering injuries. AJ acknowledged that too many fighters want to prove their toughness and “rub dirt on it” to keep competing, even if at a compromised level.
When he did finally make the jump for surgery, it turned out to be even more serious than he thought: “It was a buck and handle meniscus tear, when I got the surgery – the surgery is like is usually like 15 minutes…the doctor said it took like 40 minutes because I’d been fighting on it for so long, training on it so long, that the loose part of the meniscus was just lodged deep in my knee, and he had to dig it out before he could cut it out.”
On what fans can expect from his rebuilt style, Dobson said, “Honestly I’m just hoping to be me, I’m hoping to be exciting, and have another barnburner, hopefully get Fight of the Night, that’s what I dream of.”
Fighter profile
AJ Dobson is a 30 year old male fighter from United States with 6 pro wins and 1 losses. Dobson is scheduled to fight Armen Petrosyan at UFC 280: Oliveira vs. Makhachev on Saturday October 22, 2022.
AJ Dobson’s recent form coming into this matchup
AJ Dobson has gone 4-1 in the last 5 professional MMA fights.
- Loss vs Jacob Malkoun • Decision R3 5:00 • 2022-02-12
- Win vs Hashem Arkhagha • Submission R1 4:21 • 2021-09-21
- Win vs Kailan Hill • KO/TKO R1 0:35 • 2020-11-07
- Win vs Wesley Golden • Submission R1 0:24 • 2018-08-18
- Win vs Montrel James • Decision R3 5:00 • 2017-12-09
AJ Dobson’s next opponent: Armen “Superman” Petrosyan
Armen “Superman” Petrosyan’s recent form coming into this matchup
Armen “Superman” Petrosyan is a 31 year old male fighter from Armenia with 7 pro wins and 2 losses. Petrosyan is scheduled to fight AJ Dobson at UFC 280: Oliveira vs. Makhachev on Saturday October 22, 2022.
Armen Petrosyan has gone 3-2 in the last 5 professional MMA fights.
- Loss vs Caio Borralho • Decision R3 5:00 • 2022-07-09
- Win vs Gregory Rodrigues • Decision R3 5:00 • 2022-02-26
- Win vs Kaloyan Kolev • KO/TKO R1 4:27 • 2021-10-19
- Win vs Aleksandr Zemlyakov • KO/TKO R1 0:15 • 2021-07-25
- Loss vs Hasan Yousefi • KO/TKO R1 1:03 • 2021-06-18
How to watch and bet on AJ Dobson vs Armen Petrosyan
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