Pump the brakes! Compared to the first two weeks, episodes 3 and 4 of Dana White’s Contender Series did not feature every winner receiving a contract to fight for the UFC. The boss kept it real when it came to making the decisions.
Week 3 featured 3 contract winners which were Zachary Reese (MW), Oban Elliott (WW), and Luis Pajuelo (FW). The lone winner who did not receive a contract that night was strawweight fighter Josefine Knuttson. Knuttson, who trains at Allstars Training Center in Stockholm, Sweden under Coach Andreas Michael with notable training partners such as Khamzat Chimaev, won a hard fought fight against Dutch strawweight Isis Verbeek. White said that Knuttson had the tools to finish the fight and that he wanted to see more out of her.
Fast forward to week 4. The broadcast team announced that Josefine Knuttson will be making her debut for the promotion on September 16 at the T-Mobile Arena against the always game Iasmin Lucindo. This means that all of the winners from week 3 ended up getting a contract.
Week 4 kicked off with a bang as lightweights Bolaji Oki and Dylan Salvador clashed in the first fight of the night. An electrifying pace was set by both men as soon as the bell rang. Both men were exchanging hard shots in the pocket as Oki was getting the better of the exchanges. Eventually, Oki cracked Salvador and forced the referee to intervene.
It was now time for the second fight of the night as 7-1 heavyweight Thomas Petersen faced off against TUF 30 veteran Chandler Cole. Going into this fight, Petersen’s only professional loss came to Dominican UFC heavyweight and Contender Series alumn Waldo Cortes-Acosta who just picked up a win at UFC Singapore against Lukasz Brzeski. Petersen set the tone of the fight right away as he shot for a takedown against Cole. He took Cole down and controlled the majority of Round 1 on the top position. Round 2 began and it was very reminiscent of round 1. Petersen once again landed the takedown on Chandler Cole. This time, Petersen was trying to set up the submission. Eventually, Petersen locked up the Keylock on Cole and forced the tap. A great performance by the Minnesota native as he improved his record to 8-1.
Featherweights were up on deck as Vegas native Timothy Cuamba took on the Canadian Mateo Vogel. An absolute barnburner of a fight from start to finish as both men did not give up. The bout went the distance, and the judges scored it for Cuamba. A controversial decision to some, but Cuamba did enough in the judges’ eyes to get the nod.
A big storyline was one half the co-main event as it featured kickboxer Yousri Belgaroui who previously fought and defeated former UFC middleweight champion Alex Pereira in kickboxing and also notably fought current UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya in kickboxing twice. Belgaroui made the transition into MMA in 2021 and began to train with former kickboxing rival Alex Pereira under Glover Teixeira. The man standing across the cage from him was Chute Box’s Marco Tulio. The two were exchanging all fight long but it was Tulio who got the better of the kickboxing phenom, as Tulio walked away with the unanimous decision victory.
Enter our main event of the evening. Undefeated 7-0 welterweight Mitch Ramirez who trains right here in Las Vegas at Syndicate MMA was facing off against the tough Carlos Prates from Brazil. Ramirez started off strong as he took Prates down and controlled him for a bit. Prates found his way up and showed the way throughout the rest of the fight. During the second half of the first round, Prates was cracking Ramirez hard with some shots and set the tone going into the second. Second round began and it was the Carlos Prates show as he showcased his beautiful display of Muay Thai against Ramirez where eventually got the TKO.
It was now time for Dana White to make his decisions on who he wants to be a part of the UFC roster. Oki (LW), Petersen (HW), and Prates (WW) all received contracts to the big show with the boss even mentioning how Prates’ performance was very reminiscing of the legend Anderson Silva. This meant Cuamba and Tulio were left out. For Cuamba (FW), Dana said he wants to see more out of him as he is still very young at 24 years old and believes that the Vegas native will find himself back in the mix someday. For Tulio (MW), he believes that he could have done more to find the finish as he had his opponent hurt. He simply was not as impressed with the Chute Box fighter.
Dana White’s Contender Series continues Tuesday September 5, 2023 on ESPN +.
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