Suffice it to say, T.J. Grant is ready to get back at it.

Almost 10 months removed from action will do that to a fighter.

“Way too long, man,” the Cole Harbour mixed martial artist said. “I’m itching to get back in there big time. I’m ready to get out there and win.”

The 27-year-old last stepped into the octagon on Dec. 11, 2010 at UFC 124 at the Bell Centre in Montreal. In that card, Grant dropped a unanimous decision to welterweight Ricardo Almedia, a fight in which he was outstriked 48-6 and failed to score a single takedown in.

Since then, two scheduled fights were cancelled, the most recent one coming just days before a June 21st encounter in Pittsburgh against Charlie Brenneman, with Grant having to pull out due to sickness.

Now, Grant is set to finally make his octagon return and will be doing so against a new opponent in a new weight-class.

Grant has dropped from welterweight to lightweight and will face Shane Roller (10-4) at UFC Live 6 on Saturday night at the Verizon Centre in Washington.

“It’s just better because that is where I belong,” he said of the move to lightweight. “I’ve been having to fight a lot bigger guys.”

Grant called Saturday’s fight “huge for me” as he looks to climb up the ladder in the lightweight division.

He also said the fight is the first in a new four-fight deal he had previously signed with UFC.

“You don’t want to lose two fights in a row at UFC. Your job is on the line,”  Grant said as he was preparing to leave Halifax yesterday. “That’s motivation. But just getting out there and winning is the biggest motivation.”

Grant knows his opponent on Saturday quite well.

The two actually trained together recently prior to them knowing they would be squaring off.

“I know he’s a tough, dangerous wrestler. He’s got good submissions,” Grant said of Roller. “He’s a game puncher. He’s got good punching power.”

To watch
T.J. Grant’s fight isn’t on the televised portion of UFC Live 6, but the preliminaries will be shown for free on UFC’s Facebook site.