Dana White's Contender Series, formerly named Dana White's Tuesday Night Contender Series, is an American mixed martial arts promotion. In May 2017, the UFC announced White would hold the competition weekly on UFC Fight Pass (It has since been moved to ESPN+). [1] As with the earlier web series Looking for a Fight, the goal of the series is for White to scout talent for the UFC. [2] [3] Similar to The Ultimate Fighter none of the fighters involved will have existing UFC contracts. Licensed separately from the UFC with Dana White applying for a promoter's license, it was stated ahead of the license being approved that “this is not the UFC, this is not the UFC brand, but instead a promotion that will allow up and coming fighters the chance to showcase their talents in hopes that one day they may compete in the UFC." [4]
The inaugural event took place on July 11, 2017. All events have been held at the UFC's home base of Las Vegas. [5] [6]
Name | Ref | Start Date | End Date | # of Contracts | # of Events | Venue | Location |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Season 8 (67-76) | [7] | August 13, 2024 | October 15, 2024 | 42 | 10 | UFC Apex Centre | Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. |
Season 7 (57-66) | [8] | August 8, 2023 | October 10, 2023 | 46 | 10 | ||
Season 6 (47-56) | [9] | July 26, 2022 | September 27, 2022 | 43 | 10 | ||
Season 5 (37-46) | [10] | August 31, 2021 | November 2, 2021 | 39 | 10 | ||
Season 4 (27-36) | [11] | August 4, 2020 | November 17, 2020 | 37 | 10 | ||
Season 3 (17-26) | [12] | June 18, 2019 | August 27, 2019 | 30 | 10 | ||
Season Brazil | [13] | August 24, 2018 | September 7, 2018 | 11 | 3 | UFC Training Centre | |
Season 2 (9-16) | [14] | June 12, 2018 | August 7, 2018 | 23 | 8 | ||
Season 1 (1-8) | [15] | July 11, 2017 | August 29, 2017 | 16 | 8 | ||
Season | Episode Number | |||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Ref. | 2 | Ref. | 3 | Ref. | 4 | Ref. | 5 | Ref. | 6 | Ref. | 7 | Ref. | 8 | Ref. | 9 | Ref. | 10 | Ref. | |
Season 8 (2024) | *Mansur Abdul-Malik *Bruno Lopes *Jose Delgado *Lone'er Kavanagh | [16] | *Andreas Berg Gustafsson *Rizvan Kuniev *Cortavious Romious *Cody Haddon | [17] | *Andrey Pulaev *Bogdan Grad *Marco Tulio *Malcolm Wellmaker | [18] | *Ko Seok-hyun *Djorden Ribeiro dos Santos *Austin Bashi Yuneisy Duben *Quillan Salkilld | [19] | *Navajo Stirling *Josias Musasa *Nicolle Caliari | [20] | *Elijah Smith *Talison Teixeira *Ateba Abega Gautier *Ahmad Hassanzada | [21] | *Danylo Voievodkin *Daniel Frunza *Kevin Christian *Kevin Vallejos *Alexia Thainara | [22] | *Diyar Nurgozhay *Alberto Montes *David Martinez *Torrez Finney *Jacobe Smith | [23] | *Artem Vakhitov *Kody Steele *Mário Pinto *Islam Dulatov | [24] | *Nick Klein *Luis Gurule *Yadier Del Valle *Jonathan Micallef | [25] |
Season 7 (2023) | *César Almeida *Tom Nolan *Caio Machado *Payton Talbott *Kevin Borjas | [26] | *Abdul-Kerim Al-Selwady *Ibo Aslan Hyder Amil *Eduarda Moura Charalampos Grigoriou | [27] | *Zachary Reese *Oban Elliot Luis Pajuelo | [28] | *Carlos Prates *Thomas Petersen *Bolaji Oki | [29] | *Brendson Ribeiro *Serhiy Sidey *Dylan Budka *Jean Silva *Dione Barbosa | [30] | *James Llontop Jhonata Diniz *Steven Nguyen *Julia Polastri *Jean Matsumoto | [31] | *Shamil Gaziev *Stephanie Luciano *Kaynan Kruschewsky *Igor da Silva | [32] | *Danny Barlow *Danny Silva *Angel Pacheco *Ernesta Kareckaitė *Carli Judice *Vinicius Oliveira | [33] | *Rodolfo Bellato *Victor Hugo Silva *Magomed Gadzhiyasulov *José Daniel Medina *Maurício Ruffy | [34] | *Ramon Taveras *André Lima *Connor Matthews *MarQuel Mederos *Lucas Rocha | [35] |
Season 6 (2022) | *Joe Pyfer | [36] | *Chris Duncan *Vinicius Salvador *Francis Marshall *Waldo Cortes-Acosta Billy Goff | [37] | *Jamal Pogues *Erik Silva *Clayton Carpenter | [38] | *Esteban Ribovics *Claudio Ribeiro *Jose Johnson *Hailey Cowan *Nazim Sadykhov | [39] | *Mick Parkin *Darrius Flowers *Jesús Santos Aguilar *Cameron Saaiman *Denise Gomes | [40] | *Yusaku Kinoshita *Sedriques Dumas *Mateusz Rębecki *Viktoriya Dudakova *Blake Bilder | [41] | *Vitor Petrino *Gabriel Bonfim *Karl Williams *Ismael Bonfim | [42] | *Farid Basharat *Ikram Aliskerov *Trevor Peek *Bruna Brasil *Daniel Marcos | [43] | *Brunno Ferreira *Raul Rosas Jr. *Austen Lane *Nurullo Aliev Jafel Filho | [44] | *Bo Nickal *Sam Patterson *Jack Jenkins *Rafael Ramos Estevam *Mateus Mendonça | [45] |
Season 5 (2021) | *Azamat Murzakanov *Joanderson Brito *Victor Altamirano *Carlos Candelario *AJ Fletcher | [46] | *Josh Quinlan *Chidi Njokuani *Saimon Oliveira *C.J. Vergara *Chad Anheliger | [47] | *Jailton Almeida *Albert Duraev *Łukasz Brzeski *Jack Della Maddalena *Jasmine Jasudavicius | [48] | *AJ Dobson *Michael Morales *Kleydson Rodrigues *Victor Martinez | [49] | *Ihor Potieria *Daniel Zellhuber | [50] | *Mike Malott *Carlos Hernandez *Fernie Garcia *Genaro Valdéz | [51] | *Martin Buday *Jake Hadley *Slava Borshchev | [52] | *Armen Petrosyan *Caio Borralho *Piera Rodríguez *Jonny Parsons | [53] | *Gadzhi Omargadzhiev *Cristian Quiñonez *Javid Basharat *Karine Silva *Manuel Torres | [54] | *Maheshate *Yohan Lainesse | [55] |
Season 4 (2020) | *Dustin Jacoby *Uroš Medić *Jordan Leavitt | [56] | *Dustin Stoltzfus *Adrian Yañez *Cory McKenna *T.J. Laramie *Impa Kasanganay | [57] | *Louis Cosce *Cheyanne Vlismas *Orion Cosce *Josh Parisian | [58] | *Jamie Pickett *Rafael Alves *Jeff Molina *Collin Huckbody | [59] | *Jimmy Flick *Ronnie Lawrence *William Knight | [60] | *Phil Hawes *Drako Rodriguez *Tafon Nchukwi *Aliaskhab Khizriev | [61] | *Jordan Williams *Collin Anglin *Danyelle Wolf | [62] | *Carlos Ulberg *Ignacio Bahamondes *Luis Saldaña *Jared Vanderaa | [63] | *Natan Levy *Nikolas Motta *Luana Pinheiro | [64] | *JP Buys *Gloria de Paula *Tucker Lutz *Victoria Leonardo | [65] |
Season 3 (2019) | *Punahele Soriano *Yorgan de Castro | [66] | *Miles Johns *Miguel Baeza | [67] | *Joe Solecki *Antonio Trócoli *Hunter Azure *Maki Pitolo *Jonathan Pearce | [68] | *Antônio Arroyo *Ode' Osbourne *Don'Tale Mayes *Brendan Allen | [69] | *Sean Woodson *Jamahal Hill *Billy Quarantillo | [70] | *Aleksa Camur *Aalon Cruz *Tracy Cortez *Rodrigo Nascimento | [71] | *Omar Morales *Herbert Burns *André Muniz | [72] | *Brok Weaver *Sarah Alpar Tony Gravely | [73] | *Philip Rowe | [74] | *Duško Todorović *Peter Barrett *T.J. Brown | [75] |
Season Brazil (2018) | *Rogério Bontorin *Mayra Bueno Silva *Sarah Frota *Augusto Sakai | [76] | *Taila Santos *Johnny Walker *Marina Rodriguez | [77] | *Raulian Paiva *Vinicius Moreira *Luana Carolina *Thiago Moisés | [78] | ||||||||||||||
Season 2 (2018) | *Alonzo Menifield *Greg Hardy | [79] | *Matt Sayles *Anthony Hernandez *Ryan Spann Dwight Grant | [80] | *Antonina Shevchenko *Te'Jovan Edwards | [81] | *Bevon Lewis *Jordan Espinosa | [82] | *Maycee Barber *Domingo Pilarte *Edmen Shahbazyan | [83] | *Jimmy Crute *Sodiq Yusuff *Jeff Hughes | [84] | *Roosevelt Roberts *Ian Heinisch *Jordan Griffin *Juan Adams | [85] | *Devonte Smith *Kennedy Nzechukwu *Bobby Moffett | [86] | ||||
Season 1 (2017) | *Kurt Holobaugh *Boston Salmon | [87] | *Sean O'Malley | [88] | *Karl Roberson *Geoff Neal | [89] | *Julian Marquez *Brandon Davis | [90] | *Mike Rodríguez *Alex Perez | [91] | *Charles Byrd *Grant Dawson | [92] | *Benito Lopez *Joby Sanchez | [93] | *Matt Frevola *Lauren Mueller *Allen Crowder | [94] |
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The inaugural 2017 season of Dana White's Contender Series included a total of 8 weekly shows. Viewers had a choice of a traditional commentary team, or alternate commentary provided by rapper Snoop Dogg and UFC Hall of Famer Urijah Faber. Commentators included active fighter Paul Felder who would go on to commentate on UFC events.
Season Two of Dana White's Contender Series commenced on June 12, 2018.
In May 2018 it was confirmed that season 3 of Dana White's Contender Series would commence in June 2019 and in the US would be exclusive to ESPN+, ESPN's new over-the-top subscription package. In April 2019, the schedule was elaborated, the series beginning on June 18, 2019 and ending on August 20, 2019. The promotion's name also got shortened from Dana White's Tuesday Night Contender Series to Dana White's Contender Series.
In June 2020 it was confirmed that season 4 of Dana White's Contender Series would commence in August 2020 and in the US would be exclusive to ESPN+, ESPN's new over-the-top subscription package. In April 2020, the schedule was elaborated, the series beginning on August 4, 2020 and ending on September 1, 2020.
Season 5 of Dana White's Contender Series will commence in August 2021 and in the US would be exclusive to ESPN+, ESPN's new over-the-top subscription package.
Josh Parisian is an American mixed martial artist who previously competed in the heavyweight division of the UFC.
Season 6 of Dana White's Contender Series commenced in July 2022 and in the US is exclusive to ESPN+, ESPN's new over-the-top subscription package.
Season 7 of Dana White's Contender Series commences in August 2023 and in the US is exclusive to ESPN+, ESPN's new over-the-top subscription package.
Season 8 of Dana White's Contender Series commences in August 2024 and in the US is exclusive to ESPN+, ESPN's over-the-top subscription package.
Raul Rosas Jr. is an American mixed martial artist who competes in the Bantamweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Rosas Jr. was featured on Dana White's Contender Series, winning by decision and earning himself a UFC contract thus becoming the youngest person to be signed to the UFC in their history.