Phil Rowe, Grant Dawson, UFC 302 picks

UFC Unfiltered with Jim Norton and Matt Serra

On today's episode of UFC Unfiltered, Jim and Matt are back after a break in honor of Memorial Day for an episode revolving around Saturday's UFC 302 card featuring a pair of fighters on the card in welterweight Phil Rowe and lightweight Grant Dawson.

Having gone a week without UFC action, Jim and Matt waste no time by immediately diving into matchups on the card before ultimately bringing on Phil Rowe as the first guest caller. A former excellent basketball player himself, Rowe delves deep into how he has since found solace in his journey as a professional fighter after initially hoping to break into basketball as a professional. Rowe goes on to explain how he wears his jiu-jitsu black belt with honor and takes grappling matches to help improve his skills for MMA fights like the one he has on Saturday against Jake Matthews.

Shortly thereafter, Grant Dawson joins the show — and to the surprise of no one, Matt immediately asks his fellow Star Wars fan a series of questions about his thoughts on the franchise's new TV show set to drop. As Jim steers the conversation back to Dawson's fight against Joe Solecki on Saturday's prelims, the guys unpack the dynamics of a matchup that Matt calls a "grappler's delight".

Finally, Jim and Matt wrap up the show with three picks atop the pay-per-view card of UFC 302 — and you don't want to miss the BOLD prediction made by one of the two co-hosts for the headlining lightweight title fight between Islam Makhachev and Dustin Poirier.