Dana White’s Contender Series returned for its 10th season as Week 1 kicked off with an action-packed night of fights, with the UFC president and CEO awarding UFC contracts to four of the night’s five winners at Meta APEX.
After the action had concluded and White had announced the night’s contract winners, he headed backstage to answer questions from the assembled media at the Dana White’s Contender Series Season 10, Week 1 post-fight press conference.
In his early remarks at the press conference, White waxed lyrical about the night’s two big winners, with flyweight Bilal Hasan and heavyweight Anthony Wint both scoring sub-60-second finishes in the two most eye-catching performances of the night.
“Yeah, it was a good night,” said White.
“When I look at tonight as a whole, I mean, obviously Bilal is exciting, and I'm pumped about him. I want to see what he's capable of once he steps into the UFC, and then Wint is fun. I mean, this guy is all over me. He says, ‘I'm not leaving Las Vegas until you guys give me a fight.’ So we’ll probably put him on [the fight card for] Sacramento.
“I love guys that want to turn around quick and fight again. You know, when you come into the Contender [Series], and you do well, you get that pop. I mean, staying active is the best thing you could do … We'll turn these kids around. Mick [Maynard, UFC matchmaker] said he left a bunch of spots open on cards coming up, to see what happens tonight.”
The Contender Series has been described as “The World’s Most Intense Job Interview” and sometimes simply winning isn’t enough to earn a spot on the UFC roster. To get a contract, fighters have to impress White and his matchmakers Mick Maynard and Sean Shelby, with fighters who play it safe often end up missing out, despite claiming the win on the night.
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For White and his team, fighting to finish and showing the desire to get the victory down the stretch, especially in a tough fight, is crucial, as White explained as he looked back at the night’s action.
“There's lots of different things that I look at,” he said.
“Like the kid Joseph [Kropschot] in the first fight. I was like, ‘I don't know.’ I said, ‘Let's see how the third round plays out.’ And then when he went for that armbar and got it and cranked it the way that he did, I was like, ‘You know what? This guy's 31 years old. He came in, he delivered, and I'm gonna give him a shot.’ We'll see how it goes for him, and then Thomas [Pagliarulo] obviously stopped a really tough dude who [was] highly motivated to win. I like that fight.”
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The lightweight battle between Abe Alsaghir and Fabrizio Escarrega ended in a split-decision win for Alsaghir in a fight that left White disappointed with what he saw in the Octagon and on the scorecards.
“I thought that Abe [Alsaghir] lost that fight,” he stated.
“I don't know how you guys feel about that. I think that's some fucking s*****-ass judging. Not only did was it not a split decision, there's no doubt that Fabrizio won the fight.
“You don't come here and push against the fence for three rounds. I'm never gonna pick you if you come in and do that. But guys who do do that, I did like that Fabrizio was stuffing all the takedowns, and you could tell he got tired in that third round.
“I was waiting to see in the third round who's my guy, who's gonna go in there and say, ‘I want to get signed tonight,’ and it never happened, you know? And even Fabrizo, I get it. He was tired, and he was stuffing those takedowns all night. But he's laying up against the fence at one point, and he looks at the ref. The ref isn't gonna f****** help you, man. Get off that fence and come on, get up and knock this guy out, finish him, or do something, or act like you want to win this third round, and I never saw it from either guy.
“So you had the guys who came in like Wint and Bilal, and looked really good, but there’s other things that I’m looking for, and I like the way that Fabrizio was pushed in that fight. Even though I don’t like fence pushers – I don't like that s*** – but when you have a guy like that, the question is how does the guy he's fighting handle it? So there's a lot of different things I look at. If Fabrizio would have came out in that third round and acted like he wanted to f****** be here, he'd be here.”
If the level of anticipation ahead of Bilal Hasan’s appearance at Meta APEX was high, the level of excitement over his potential in the UFC flyweight division is even higher after his quickfire victory.
Hasan needed just 45 minutes to finish Indian prospect Mridul Saikia as he extended his unbeaten record to 9-0 (1 no contest), with his spectacular fighting style and larger-than-life personality shining through in front of White and the UFC matchmakers.
Despite the obvious excitement around Hasan’s arrival in the UFC, White said there is no need to throw him straight in with the division’s top names from the very start.
“I don't think you should take anybody from this show and throw him in the deep end,” he said.
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“There are no gimme fights in the UFC. The good thing about getting thrown into the deep end is that if you lose, you lost to one of the best in the world. But to get into the UFC is tough, and this kid dealt with the pressure tonight.
“Some people were saying he was a 5,000-1 favorite. On the paper here, he was -3,600 or something. But when you come in with that kind of hype and that type of pressure, and you deliver the way that he delivered... Now let's see what he does under the big lights, you know, in an arena with 20,000 people, and we'll see.”
After his NFL career didn’t work out, Anthony Wint transitioned to mixed martial arts, and his victory in Tuesday night’s featured bout saw him punch his ticket to the UFC roster.
It completed a notable journey as he went from undrafted college prospect to signed NFL player; then, after being cut by the New York Jets, he found his way to the big leagues in a new sport. The sheer athleticism of football players immediately gives them a chance of success in MMA, if they’re prepared to learn the skills required, with Wint the latest example of a former football player who has made that transition.
White said he’s seen plenty of former players make that switch, and wondered aloud what a certain Las Vegas Raiders edge rusher might have looked like in the Octagon had he chosen the UFC over the NFL earlier in his athletic career.
“There's been a lot. I mean, we've had a lot of football players, whether it be college or guys who played some pro,” he said.
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“Imagine if Maxx Crosby trained in MMA since he was a kid. He would be a world champion right now. I believe that to my core, and I know a lot of s*** about Maxx Crosby that you guys don't know. I believe he would be a world champion right now.”
Bella Mir, daughter of former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir, is set to feature on Week 3 of Dana White’s Contender Series as she fights for a spot on the UFC roster, and there’s a lot of excitement around the undefeated 23-year-old, who has already enjoyed great success in wrestling having captured the Under-23 USA Wrestling National Championship last year, and is making big waves in UFC BJJ. Now she has the chance to put herself on MMA’s biggest stage with an impressive victory when she takes on Alex Apodaca on August 25.
“I'm very excited about Bella. You know, I've been very involved in her life the last four years. So yeah, [that’s] gonna be fun,” said White, who revealed that Mir wants to compete on multiple fronts under the TKO banner, all while pursuing her Olympic dream. He said he’s happy to give her that opportunity.
“Olympics, UFC championship, Zuffa Boxing, and UFC BJJ. She wants a title in all of those organizations. We’ve talked about it. She presented that to me, and I've been talking about her career with her for four years. I don't want to talk too much about personal stuff, but I'm the one that really pushed her to go to college and get a college education because she was ready to start fighting right out of high school.”
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Getting a college education was obviously a key factor in suggesting Mir take that route, but it also opened up a path for her to compete in collegiate wrestling, where she became a phenom on the mats, before bringing her skills home and parlaying them into success in grappling tournaments.
“That was the goal, too, in college. Not just for her to get an education, but to break some college records,” White continued.
“This girl would go to school, and she was wrestling, and then she'd come home on vacation. You know, you come home at Thanksgiving and Christmas, and she would enter these jiu-jitsu competitions and win them, while she was only wrestling, not even doing jiu-jitsu. So yeah, she’s special.”
Week 1 of Dana White’s Contender Series played out in front of a lively crowd at the newly-expanded Meta APEX, with the improved atmosphere helping to elevate the overall feel of the show.
Tickets for Contender Series events are now available for general purchase by the public, with fans able to secure seats at the APEX from as little as $25. White admitted that setting the price point wasn’t a part of his remit, but he approved of the direction taken.
“Yeah, [the expanded setup] was good. I like it,” he said.
“I have nothing to do with the tickets. I have no idea. For whatever reason, they wanted to do 25 bucks. I like it.”
The first bout of the night saw the fight go the distance, as Joe Kropschot claimed a contract-winning decision victory over the gritty Jon Kunneman, whose refusal to tap to an armbar late in the fight saw his arm completely dislocated at the elbow joint in a moment that had everyone in Meta APEX wincing uncomfortably.
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White said that the incident showed admirable determination and toughness from Kunneman, but stated that, in those situations, there is absolutely no shame in tapping.
“How I got started in this sport was jiu-jitsu – that's how I got started,” White explained.
“What happens to you if you don't tap… Tapping is a part of the sport. I mean, it's not anything that's shunned on, like, ‘Oh my God, that guy’s a p****. He f******g tapped.’ That is not how this sport works. The damage that can be done to your arm for the rest of your life… No, I'm cool with tapping.
“Listen, do I respect and think that he's a really tough guy? Absolutely. And I was looking at his face. He didn't even look like he was in pain! And he had his other thumb up like this. Dude! Your arm is going the other f****** way! Put your thumb down! Yes, I respect that he is that f****** tough, but there is nothing wrong with tapping in this sport.”
And, as White’s time on the dais came to a close, he received the least surprising injury update on the state of Kunneman’s arm, which he duly shared with the room.
“It's broken. There you go,” he said.
“For anybody that needed to hear it officially, there you go. His arm is broken. Tap!”
