Dana White's Contender Series
Week 4 Preview | Dana White's Contender Series Season 8
Setting The Table For Tuesday’s Action As Another Set Of Hopefuls Look To Earn Their Place On The UFC Roster
Through the first three weeks of Season 8, a dozen hopefuls have done enough to impress UFC CEO Dana White and the matchmakers enough to earn themselves a contract and the opportunity to compete on the biggest stage in the sport in the future.
Through the first three weeks of Season 8, a dozen hopefuls have done enough to impress UFC CEO Dana White and the matchmakers enough to earn themselves a contract and the opportunity to compete on the biggest stage in the sport in the future.
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Only four athletes have gotten the call to compete in the Octagon each week. Last year, there were only three instances all season where four or fewer competitors graduated to the roster, and you’d have to go all the way back to Week 7 of last year to find the last time that happened prior to the start of this season.
Needless to say, the bar has been raised so far in Season 8, meaning this week’s collection of ambitious arrivals to the UFC APEX will need to bring the goods in order to get the boss’ attention on Tuesday night.
Here’s a closer look at this week’s matchups.
Gauge Young vs Quillan Salkilld
Quillan Salkilld and Gauge Young face off in a battle of once-beaten lightweight hopefuls looking to impress the UFC CEO this week in Las Vegas.
Sporting a 6-1 record and training out of Perth’s Luistro Combat Academy, Salkilld watched his teammate Cody Haddon punch his ticket to the UFC earlier this season and will look to do the same here. He’s won six straight since dropping his professional debut and is the reigning Eternal MMA lightweight champ.
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The 24-year-old has spent his last three fights competing at a catchweight, earning stoppage victories in all three. The last time he fought at lightweight, the Missouri-based prospect suffered the first and only loss of his career against Bellator and LFA alum Bobby Lee.
Yuneisy Duben vs Shannon Clark
Unbeaten prospects Shannon Clark and Yuneisy Duben hit the cage for the first women’s fight of the year on Tuesday evening.
Brandishing a 5-0 mark to start her career, the 32-year-old Clark enters off a second-round submission win over Thaiany Lopes at LFA 177 in February where she claimed the promotion’s flyweight title. Training out of Lethbridge, Alberta, Clark has only gone the distance once as a pro and twice overall between her eight combined appearances inside the cage.
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After walking away from her debut with a no contest result, Duben has won four straight heading into Tuesday’s clash with Clark. After a lengthy layoff, she picked up where she left off in April, registering a fourth straight stoppage win, though each of her last three opponents were all making their MMA debuts.
Austin Bashi vs Dorian Ramos
It's a meeting of featherweights here as Austin Bashi and Dorian Ramos share the cage.
Following a 5-0 amateur career, the 30-year-old Ramos has gone 8-2 as a pro. A ground-and-pound specialist, the Arizona native is battle-tested thanks to four championship bouts for the UWC promotion in Mexico that has seen him gone the five-round distance twice, with a third bout going into the fifth before he submitted his opponent.
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Just 22 years old, Bashi has already logged a dozen professional appearances, winning them all, with the last six coming under the Lights Out Championship banner. While he’s earned four straight finishes, the Michigan native has been the distance five times already, and it will be interesting to see if that becomes a factor in this one.
Will Currie vs Djorden Santos
It’s England versus Brazil in the middleweight division as Will Currie squares off with Djorden Santos.
A Cage Warriors staple and teammate of UFC light heavyweight Modestas Bukauskas, Currie hits the UFC APEX on a three-fight winning streak, having most recently stopped DWCS alum Leon Ali at the end of March. Currie is 12-3 overall, with two of his losses coming to Christian Leroy Duncan, and the only other defeat coming in a clash with Mick Stanton for the vacant Cage Warriors middleweight title.
The 27-year-old Santos is 9-1 as a professional and reaches Las Vegas riding a four-fight winning streak. He’s competed primarily on smaller regional shows in his native Brazil and returns to action here for the first time since November 2022.
SeokHyeon Ko vs Igor Cavalcanti
SeokHyeon Ko and Igor Cavalcanti clash here in a meeting of intriguing welterweights looking to take the next step forward in their respective careers.
A member of Team Stun Gun, the 28-year-old Ko arrives in Las Vegas with a 10-2 record and sporting a three-fight winning streak. His two career setbacks have come against familiar names — UFC vet Sasha Palatnikov and Road to UFC alum HanSeul Kim — and he’s earned six of his last eight wins inside the distance.
Cavalcanti is undefeated in nine professional appearances and has yet to venture beyond the opening round. While you can only beat whoever is in front of you and finishing everyone certainly looks great on your resume, he’s faced limited competition thus far, which is always something to be aware of in these situations.
