The latest season of Dana White’s Contender Series continued with some memorable highlights on Tuesday night in Las Vegas.
DWCS, the inaugural season of which took place back in 2017, sees some of the top prospects in mixed martial arts enter the cage in front of White and the matchmakers, looking to put in a performance worthy of a place on the UFC roster.
Last year’s edition saw 46 fighters bag a deal with the sport’s premier promotion across 10 events, up on the 43 from 2022. Through four episodes of season eight, 17 prospects moved a step closer to their title dreams on MMA’s biggest stage.
And the fifth added another three talents to the UFC roster. That included light heavyweight Navajo Stirling, who delivered the highlight of the night in the final fight by delivering a one-punch knockout of Phillip Latu to punch his ticket to the big stake.
Elsewhere, women’s flyweight Nicolle Caliari started the night with fireworks by submitting Corinne LaFramboise with a first-round armbar. While she earned a contract for her efforts, Yousri Belgaroui’s late TKO to get the better of Taiga Iwasaki wasn’t enough.
The third contract went to Josias Musasa, who fell on the right side of a split decision against Ota Tanzilovi, a Georgian prospect who had upcoming Noche UFC headliner Merab Dvalishvili in his corner.
The bout between Quemuel Ottoni, the first man to defeat Alex Pereira in MMA, and the undefeated Kody Steele was canceled during the event after the Brazilian withdrew. Steele is expected to be rebooked for another episode later this season.
With that in mind, see below for the four results and moments that landed three athletes contracts with the UFC.
