Grant picked up the unanimous decision win, and then it was off to the land of Mickey and Minnie with his wife and three kids, aged 7, 13 and 15. It was an emotional victory, especially for his seven-year-old daughter, who may be taking dad’s trips to Vegas for training camp the hardest.
“My little girl, she’s the only one who misses me,” Grant said. “I think she gets really upset when I tell her I’ve got to go. In fact, that last time I told her, ‘Look, I’m going to go to Vegas.’ And she started crying. She said, ‘How would you like it if I went away for all these days?’ And I said, ‘I know, but baby, daddy’s got to work.’ She said, ‘Well, can you not just get a job in McDonald’s just up the road?’ (Laughs) So you never know, if the UFC doesn’t work out, I’ve got McDonald’s to live back on.”
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We both laugh, not just because we can’t picture Grant asking, “you want fries with that,” but because the UFC has worked out for him, even though some injury-induced layoffs made you wonder if he was going to end up as a “What If” story, and not as a 13-fight veteran of the promotion. Grant never stopped pushing, never stopped believing, and when you add five post-fight bonuses into the mix, he’s given his family a good life, one that wasn’t always guaranteed in a sport where one bad injury can end everything.
“You know me, I’m a humble guy and I absolutely thank my lucky stars that this is the hand I’ve been given and the fact that I can treat my family to all these nice things,” he said. “The fact that I get to travel the world and perform in front of millions, I’ll never ever take it for granted. And it makes me proud to be able to take the family along and do all these things. I’ll never be able to thank the UFC enough for all these chances. Especially for a guy like me. Honestly, my mom probably thought I was going to either end up, I don’t know, dead or in jail. I wasn’t an ideal kid. And I’ve turned out all right. So I think I’ve made the family proud. They probably thought he was touch and go at one point.”
