Week 4 Preview | Dana White's Contender Series Season 7

European lightweights close out Week 4 as France’s Dylan Salvador takes on Belgium’s Bolaji Oki.

A 30-year-old kickboxer with a win over UFC featherweight standout Giga Chikadze, Salvador has gone 5-1 since transitioning to MMA in early 2019, most recently earning a third-round submission win by Von Flue choke under the UAE Warriors banner last October. Sporting a 7-1 record and seven-fight winning streak, Oki earned a first-round win as a result of a knee to the liver in March, but has largely faced overmatched competition to date.

UFC SINGAPORE REWIND: Final Results | Official Scorecards | Bonuses

Will the more experienced and tested combat sports veteran Salvador have success on Tuesday or is Oki’s run of success a reflection of considerable talent and upside?

Chandler Cole vs Thomas Petersen

TUF alum Chandler Cole faces off with former LFA title contender Thomas Petersen in the second heavyweight fight of the season.

A member of Team Nunes on Season 30 of the long-running reality TV competition, Chandler’s tournament was marred by an elbow injury prior to his opening round bout with Jordan Heiderman, but he’s bounced back with a pair of stoppage wins since exiting the TUF house. Peterson faced off with DWCS grad Waldo Cortes Acosta for the vacant LFA heavyweight title three fights back, with the loss standing as the only blemish on his record over the course of eight professional appearances.

DWCS Week 4 Weigh-In Results

Neither man has ever gone the distance in their respective careers and very seldom have their fights made out of the opening round, so expect fists to fly early and often until someone is left looking up at the lights.

Mateo Vogel vs Timmy Cuamba

Featherweights with solid records meet in the middle of Tuesday’s card as Mateo Vogel faces off with Timmy Cuamba.

Like Caio Machado in Week 1, Vogel is a Battlefield Fight League champion, touching down in Las Vegas with an 8-2 record that includes wins over fellow BFL standout Serhiy Sidey (more on him next week) and UFC bantamweight Garrett Armfield, and his two losses coming against Da’Mon Blackshear (who seems to be everywhere these days) and Xavier Alaoui. Training under Dewey Cooper in Las Vegas, Cuamba makes the short trip to the APEX looking to extend his winning streak to three following the most successful year of his young career in 2022.

UFC Paris Fight By Fight Preview

Can Vogel give Battlefield another UFC grad or will “Twilight Timmy” steal the show?

Marco Tulio vs Yousri Belgaroui

Marco Tulio looks to join his Chute Boxe Diego Lima teammates on the UFC roster, while Yousri Belgaroui aims to join former kickboxing rivals Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira as the latest to successfully transition into the Octagon.

FREE FIGHT: Ciryl Gane vs Tai Tuivasa

The 28-year-old Silva has won five straight and nine of 10 overall, with at least five of those victories coming by way of stoppage, including a second-round finish of former TUF Brazil winner Glaico Franca. Belgaroui is 5-2 as a mixed martial artist, but competed at the highest levels in kickboxing, sharing the ring with both Pereira and Adesanya on multiple occasions, as well as beating Jason Wilnis.

Silva was initially scheduled to face Val Woodburn before he was called up to face Bo Nickal last month at UFC 290, so it’ll be interesting to see how he navigates the change to the more polished, but less experienced, Belgaroui here.

Carlos Prates vs Mitch Ramirez

This week’s action begins in the welterweight division, as experienced Brazilian Carlos Prates takes on unbeaten American Mitch Ramirez.

Prates carries a 16-6 record and six-fight winning streak into battle this week in Las Vegas, having earned each of his last two victories by first-round stoppage under the LFA banner. A perfect 7-0 as a professional, the 30-year-old Ramirez has bounced around and fought in various promotions, earning wins in LFA, Tuff-N-Uff and, most recently, XMMA, where he finished Jeremie Holloway with leg kicks in the third round in May.

FREE FIGHT: Serghei Spivac vs Derrick Lewis

Someone’s run of success will come to an end inside the APEX, while someone else could potentially fulfill their dream of getting to compete on the biggest stage in the sport after Tuesday night.

It’s been an entertaining season thus far and there is no reason to believe that is going to change when the action returns to the UFC APEX this week.