The highly-anticipated return of Brandt Dewsbery has arrived.
Lethbridge, Alta.’s Dewsbery (15-3-1) will step back into the cage for the first time since 2015 when he meets Edmonton, Alta.’s KB Bhullar (9-3) in a 195-pound catchweight bout at Unified MMA 42 on Friday night in Edmonton.
Six years out of the cage is the kind of layoff that usually ends a career rather than pauses it, which makes this a genuinely unusual return — not a comeback tour or a farewell, just a good fighter who walked away on a win streak deciding he wants to fight again. Unified's Edmonton cards have been the stage for most of Western Canada's biggest regional moments, and a Dewsbery return fits that billing.
Despite this being his first fight in over six years, Dewsbery, 30, said he expects he and Bhullar to possess similar skillsets once they’re in the cage, but that the winner will be the most mentally strong.
“I think we matchup well and we’re both tall, lanky fighters,” said Dewsbery in an interview with MMA Empire.
“I think it’ll just come down to who’s tougher mentally and who’s willing to grind it out. And I believe that will be me.”
The read makes sense on paper. Two tall, technical fighters at a negotiated weight tend to produce chess matches rather than brawls, and in a chess match the edge goes to whoever's willing to be uncomfortable longer. For a fighter coming back after six years, betting the outcome on mental toughness is also the honest admission that the body will tell him things he doesn't know yet.
When Dewsbery initially put a halt to his fighting career he was on a five-fight win streak and was widely considered one of the best Canadian welterweight prospects at the time.
That five-fight streak was real — back in 2015, Dewsbery was part of the same conversation as the welterweight prospects who went on to bigger stages. The what-if version of his career is easy to imagine, which is part of why a return at 30, healthy and trained, is more interesting than most comeback stories.
In regards to his decision to take a step away from fighting, Dewsbery said it was just a matter of the lifestyle he and his family desired not including fighting.
“I knew if I ever wanted to get ahead in life I had to make some sacrifices, and that came with setting fighting aside,” said Dewsbery.
Choosing family and stability over the fight game is the decision the sport doesn't celebrate enough — fighting at the regional level pays in most currencies other than money, and stepping away with your health intact at the top of a win streak takes a different kind of discipline than fighting does.
Having competed primarily at 170 pounds throughout his career, Dewsbery will have less of a weight cut to worry about in his return as he and Bhullar are contracted for 195 pounds.
The catchweight itself is a small but meaningful detail. Six years of life at a natural weight followed by a cut to 170 would be asking the body to do something it hasn't done in a long time; 195 keeps the focus on the fight rather than the scale, which is the right call for a first fight back.
Dewsbery said he expects the heavier weight to benefit him in every aspect of the fight.
“I’m just seeing more what my body can do at a natural weight. I just feel like my body performs better, responds better and everything just starts connecting and working,” said Dewsbery.
“I just feel like I’ll be stronger, smoother and just more technical.”
There's a real argument for it — fighters who've competed at higher weights often report better cardio, better power retention and sharper decision-making when they're not depleted. Whether that shows up in the cage on Friday is the experiment, but the logic is sound.
Throughout his career, Dewsbery has faced no shortage of tough opponents, including the likes of Miles Anstead, Chase Maxwell and Ryan Dickson.
That list reads like a who's-who of the Western Canadian scene from that era — Dewsbery's record was built against exactly the kind of regional opposition that proves a fighter, not pads one. It's the foundation that made the six-year break feel like unfinished business rather than a career that simply ended.
Dewsbery isn’t easing his way back into action as he will take on the first UFC veteran of his career in Bhullar.
It's a fittingly hard ask for a return bout. Bhullar's been to the UFC and back, comes out of a top-tier room and is exactly the kind of opponent who'll expose any rust that six years left behind — if Dewsbery's still the fighter the streak suggested he was, this is where that question gets answered.
“He’s definitely established himself as a good fighter and someone that likes to bring it,” said Dewsbery.
“He’s really good standing up, he’s got a pretty good ground game and comes from a well-respected gym that has a bunch of killers in there. He’s a tough opponent, a good challenge for myself and a fight that will be fun.”
The mutual respect is genuine, and so is the matchup — a returning technician against a UFC-tested veteran, both of them long, technical strikers with ground games to match. Whatever the result, it's the kind of booking Unified's audience shows up for.
Dewsbery’s shoutouts
“Peppermint Hippo Tattoo, Lee Mein and all the boys at CMC, and my wife for being my biggest supporter.” Follow Dewsbery on social media: INSTAGRAM
