Week 1 Preview | Dana White's Contender Series Season 8
Breaking Down The Slate For Tuesday's Season 8 Kickoff At UFC APEX.
By E. Spencer Kyte, on X: @SpencerKyte
Through each of the first seven seasons of Dana White’s Contender Series, the number of contracts awarded has gone up each successive season, building from 16 contracts over eight events in the inaugural season to a record 46 last year on Season 7.
In total, there have been 234 athletes that have graduated to the UFC roster from the 66 combined weeks of fights, plus 11 competitors from the three-week All-Brazilian season that took place in the summer of 2018. Included in those graduating ranks are current bantamweight champ Sean O’Malley, former light heavyweight champ Jamahal Hill, current contenders like Jack Della Maddalena and Maycee Barber, and dynamic rookies Jean Silva and Carlos Prates.
Season 8 gets underway this Tuesday, with the first of five sets of competitors making the walk to the cage looking to join the UFC ranks and do their best to reach the same heights as those standouts mentioned above or any of the dozens of other graduates working to do the same.
Here’s a look at the pairings that kick off the action on the eighth season of Dana White’s Contender Series.
Mansur Abdul-Malik vs Wes Schultz
Middleweights close out the opening week of action on Season 8 as Mansur Abdul-Malik squares off with Wes Schultz.
Unbeaten in five professional appearances, the 26-year-old Abdul-Malik makes the short trip from Xtreme Couture to the UFC APEX for his shot at punching his ticket to the UFC roster. All five of his victories have come by way of first-round stoppage, and while he’s yet to face anyone with much experience, you cannot ignore the fact that he’s handled his business swiftly each time out.
Schultz enters with a 6-1 mark through his first seven professional appearances, with his lone setback coming against Season 7 graduate Dylan Budka. He’s earned three straight first-round finishes since that decision loss, including a pair of wins already this year under the LFA banner.
Ding Meng vs Rami Hamed
A pair of experienced welterweights meet in the penultimate bout on Tuesday’s season premiere as Ding Meng and Rami Hamed meet inside the DWCS cage.
Meng is the latest in a string of Chinese talents to touch down in Las Vegas aiming to find their way onto the UFC roster, arriving with a 34-8 record. He’s won nine of his last 10 outings and collected finishes in 29 of his 34 career victories, but it is difficult to know what to expect from “The Assassin” as he takes a considerable step up in competition this week.
A pro since 2015, the 33-year-old Hamed arrives at the APEX on a four-fight winning streak that stretches back to the middle of 2020 and wrapped with a pair of first-round stoppage wins by way of leg kicks. He hasn’t fought since the close of 2022, so it will be interesting to see what kind of ring rust he shows when he steps in with Ding on Tuesday night.
Mikhail Sazhiniani vs Bruno Lopes
The middle bout of the Season 8 debut features the first returning competitor of the year, as Georgian Mikhail Sazhiniani faces off with Season 7 hopeful Bruno Lopes in a light heavyweight fixture.
Sazhiniani carries a 13-2 record and six-fight winning streak into Tuesday’s contest, having earned finishes in five of those six victories and his most recent defeat coming at the hands of another DWCS hopeful, Murtaza Talha. He earned a trio of wins last year and already picked up a first-round stoppage win in March to win the Georgian Fighting Championship light heavyweight title.
Lopes carried an unbeaten record into his clash with Brendson Ribeiro last September, where he was dropped with a right hand and put away on the canvas with hammerfists. He made a quick return to action in January, picking up a first-round finish over another DWCS alum, Marcos Brigagão, to get things moving in the right direction again and elevate his record to 12-1 overall.
Jose Delgado vs Ernie Juarez
Featherweights with a combined 15 victories in 16 appearances clash here as Jose Delgado takes on Ernie Juarez.
Delgado steps in for Brazilian Icaro Brito just a month after earning a first-round stoppage win at LFA 188, looking to add to his four-fight winning streak. Training out of the MMA Lab, which has produced a number of DWCS grads in the past and has always featured an outstanding developmental program, Delgado will look to hand Juarez his first pro loss while earning his place on the UFC roster.
A member of the Stockton, California Gracie Fighter crew, Juarez carries a perfect 8-0 mark into Tuesday’s contest. Back in March, “The Young Titan” successfully defended his A-1 Combat featherweight title for the second time with a unanimous decision win over Abdikabyl Kaldar.
Lone’er Kavanagh vs An Tuan Ho
Season 8 opens with what is one of the best matchups to ever grace the series, at least on paper, as unbeaten flyweight prospects An Tuan Ho and Lone’er Kavanagh clash in an absolutely fascinating battle of elite emerging talents.
Ho, a teammate of Delgado’s at The MMA Lab, has gone 6-0 under the LFA banner to begin his professional career, most recently earning a unanimous decision win over Miguel Sanson in February. The 23-year-old Vietnamese flyweight is unbeaten in 13 combined amateur and pro appearances, earning nine of those wins by stoppage, including five in the opening frame.
The 25-year-old Kavanagh is also 6-0 as a professional and trains out of GB Top Team alongside UFC featherweight Nathaniel Wood under the watchful eye of Brad Pickett. He’s coming off an outstanding win over fellow unbeaten talent Shawn Marcos da Silva in March at Cage Warriors 169 and has looked like the next in a line of strong prospects to emerge from the promotion with genuine top-end upside.
Week 1 Official Weigh-In Results
Flyweight Bout: Lone’er Kavanagh (126) vs An Tuan Ho (125.5)
Featherweight Bout: Jose Delgado (145.5) vs Ernie Juarez (145)
Light Heavyweight Bout: Mikheil Sazhiniani (205) vs Bruno Lopes (203.5)
Welterweight Bout: Ding Meng (170.5) vs Rami Hamed (170)
Middleweight Featured Bout: Mansur Abdul-Malik (186) vs Wes Schultz (185)
Contract winners:
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