Dana White's Contender Series season 9

Dana White's Contender Series
Season 9
Release
Original network	ESPN+
Original release	August 12 (2025-08-12) – October 14, 2025 (2025-10-14)
Season chronology
← Previous Season 8

Season 9 of Dana White's Contender Series commences in August 2025 and in the US is exclusive to ESPN+, part of ESPN's subscription package. ^[1]

Week 1 – August 12

Dana White's Contender Series 77
Promotion	Dana White's Contender Series
Date	August 12, 2025
Venue	UFC Apex
City	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

Background

Murtaza Talha was scheduled to face Damian Pinas in a middleweight bout at the event; ^[2] however, Pinas withdrew from the bout and was replaced by Baysangur Susurkaev on four days' notice. ^[3]

Fight card (ESPN+)
Weight class				Method	Round	Time	Notes
Middleweight	Ilian Bouafia	def.	Neemias Santana	Decision (unanimous) (30–26, 29–27, 29–27)	3	5:00	[a]
Welterweight	Ty Miller	def.	Jimmy Drago	Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27)	3	5:00
Middleweight	Baysangur Susurkaev	def.	Murtaza Talha	KO (front kick to the body)	1	3:04
Featherweight	Radley da Silva	def.	George Mangos	Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28)	3	5:00
Middleweight	Yuri Panferov	def.	Christopher Ewert	Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27)	3	5:00

1. Santana was deducted one point in the round 1 due to an illegal headbutt.

^[4]

Contract awards

The following fighters were awarded contracts with the UFC: ^[5]

• Ty Miller and Baysangur Susurkaev

Week 2 – August 19

Dana White's Contender Series 78
Promotion	Dana White's Contender Series
Date	August 19, 2025
Venue	UFC Apex
City	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

Background

At the weigh-ins, Louis Lee Scott weighed in at 136.5 pounds, 0.5 pounds over the bantamweight limit and he was fined a percentage of his purse, which went to Kaushik Saikumar. ^[6]

Fight card (ESPN+)
Weight class				Method	Round	Time	Notes
Featherweight	José Mauro Delano	def.	Manuel Exposito	Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27)	3	5:00
Middleweight	Cameron Rowston	def.	Brandon Holmes	TKO (elbow and punches)	1	2:58
Bantamweight	Louis Lee Scott	def.	Kaushik Saikumar	TKO (punches)	3	2:20	[a]
Heavyweight	Josh Hokit	def.	Guilherme Uriel	TKO (elbows)	2	1:06
Featherweight	Ramiro Jimenez	def.	Tommy Cuozzi	TKO (elbows and punches)	1	2:53

1. Lee Scott missed weight (136.5 lb).

^[7]

Contract awards

The following fighters were awarded contracts with the UFC: ^[8]

• Ramiro Jimenez, Josh Hokit , Louis Lee Scott, Cameron Rowston, and José Mauro Delano

Week 3 – August 26

Dana White's Contender Series 79
Promotion	Dana White's Contender Series
Date	August 26, 2025
Venue	UFC Apex
City	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

Background

Brando Peričić and Elisha Ellison were scheduled to meet at this event in a heavyweight bout, but it was announced during at DWCS week 2 event that the bout was moved to UFC Fight Night: Ulberg vs. Reyes instead. ^[9]

Fight card (ESPN+)
Weight class				Method	Round	Time	Notes
Light Heavyweight	Ryan Gandra	def.	Trent Miller	TKO (punches)	1	2:51
Featherweight	Márcio Barbosa	def.	Damon Wilson	TKO (punches)	1	4:14
Light Heavyweight	Abdul-Rakhman Yakhyaev	def.	Alik Lorenz	TKO (knee to the body and punches)	1	0:30
Lightweight	Manoel Sousa	def.	Cristian Pérez	TKO (punches)	3	3:00
Heavyweight	Donte Johnson	def.	Darion Abbey	TKO (punches)	1	1:04

^[10]

Contract awards

The following fighters were awarded contracts with the UFC: ^[11]

• Ryan Gandra, Marcio Barbosa, Abdul Rakhman Yakhyaev, Manoel Sousa, and Donte Johnson

Week 4 – September 2

Dana White's Contender Series 80
Promotion	Dana White's Contender Series
Date	September 2, 2025
Venue	UFC Apex
City	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

Fight card (ESPN+)
Weight class				Method	Round	Time	Notes
Welterweight	Jean-Paul Lebosnoyani	def.	Jack Congdon	KO (head kick and punch)	1	1:08
Middleweight	Cezary Oleksiejczuk	def.	Theo Haig	TKO (punches)	1	0:36
Lightweight	Mandel Nallo	def.	Samuel Silva	KO (punches)	1	3:29
Flyweight	Eduardo Henrique	def.	An Tuan Ho	Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27)	3	5:00
Featherweight	Tommy McMillen	def.	David Mgoyan	Decision (majority) (28–28, 29–28, 29–28)	3	5:00

^[12]

Contract awards

The following fighters were awarded contracts with the UFC: ^[13]

• Jean-Paul Lebosnoyani, Mandel Nallo, Cezary Oleksiejczuk , and Tommy McMillen

Week 5 – September 9

Dana White's Contender Series 81
Promotion	Dana White's Contender Series
Date	September 9, 2025
Venue	UFC Apex
City	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

Fight card (ESPN+)
Weight class				Method	Round	Time	Notes
Heavyweight	Steven Asplund	vs.	Anthony Guarascio
Featherweight	Lerryan Douglas	vs.	Cameron Teague
Light Heavyweight	Freddy Vidal	vs.	Felipe Franco
Lightweight	Chasen Blair	vs.	Samuel Sanches
Women's Flyweight	Shanelle Dyer	vs.	Caroline Foro

^[14]

Week 6 – September 16

Dana White's Contender Series 82
Promotion	Dana White's Contender Series
Date	September 16, 2025
Venue	UFC Apex
City	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

Fight card (ESPN+)
Weight class				Method	Round	Time	Notes
Featherweight	Hecher Sosa	vs.	Mackson Lee
Middleweight	Hwang In-su	vs.	Paddy McCorry
Light Heavyweight	Iwo Baraniewski	vs.	Mahamed Aly
Bantamweight	Cody Chovancek	vs.	Raphael Uchegbu
Lightweight	Adam Livingston	vs.	Thomas Gantt

^[15]

Week 7 – September 23

Dana White's Contender Series 83
Promotion	Dana White's Contender Series
Date	September 23, 2025
Venue	UFC Apex
City	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

Fight card (ESPN+)
Weight class				Method	Round	Time	Notes
Featherweight	Murtazali Magomedov	vs.	Brahyan Zurcher
Featherweight	Icaro Brito	vs.	Javier Reyes
Light Heavyweight	Rafael Tobias	vs.	Jair Castro Vianna
Women's Flyweight	Jeisla Santos Chaves	vs.	Sofia Montenegro

^[16]

Week 8 – September 30

Dana White's Contender Series 84
Promotion	Dana White's Contender Series
Date	September 30, 2025
Venue	UFC Apex
City	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

Fight card (ESPN+)
Weight class				Method	Round	Time	Notes
Featherweight	Kurtis Campbell	vs.	Demba Seck
Bantamweight	Louis Jourdain	vs.	Magno Dias
Middleweight	Luis Felipe Dias	vs.	Jonathan Figueroa
Flyweight	Rashid Vagabov	vs.	Paulo Henrique da Silva
Welterweight	Christopher Alvidrez	vs.	Eliezer Kubanza

^[17]

Week 9 – October 7

Dana White's Contender Series 85
Promotion	Dana White's Contender Series
Date	October 7, 2025
Venue	UFC Apex
City	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

Fight card (ESPN+)
Weight class				Method	Round	Time	Notes
Lightweight	Magomed Zaynukov	vs.	Lucas Cunha Caldas
Bantamweight	Adrián Luna Martinetti	vs.	Mark Vologdin
Light Heavyweight	Rafael Pergentino	vs.	Luke Hernandez
Middleweight	Jimmie Pace Jr.	vs.	Juan Andres Cabrera
Flyweight	Imanol Rodriguez	vs.	Roque Conceição Moreira Jr.

^[18]

Week 10 – October 14

Dana White's Contender Series 86
Promotion	Dana White's Contender Series
Date	October 14, 2025
Venue	UFC Apex
City	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

Fight card (ESPN+)
Weight class				Method	Round	Time	Notes
Bantamweight	Kwon Won-il	vs.	Juan Díaz
Featherweight	Marwan Rahiki	vs.	Ananias Mulumba
Middleweight	Mario Mingaj	vs.	Wesley Schultz
Heavyweight	Azamat Nuftillaev	vs.	Jovan Leka

^[19]

References

1. Iskenderov, Parviz (2025-06-29). "Dana White's Contender Series Season 9: First five events scheduled". FIGHTMAG. Retrieved 2025-07-09.
2. Critchfield, Tristan (June 28, 2025). "Full Lineup Announced for Week 1 of Dana White's Contender Series". Sherdog. Retrieved August 19, 2025.
3. Okamoto, Brett (August 14, 2025). "Baisangur Susurkaev lands UFC 319 bout after Contender Series fame". ESPN. Retrieved August 19, 2025.
4. Sherdog.com. "Dana White's Contender Series - Contender Series 2025: Week 1". Sherdog. Retrieved 2025-08-12.
5. Jed Meshew (August 12, 2025). "DWCS Season 9, Week 1 Results: Only two contracts awarded after strange night of fights". mmafighting.com. Retrieved August 12, 2025.
6. Staff, MMA Junkie. "Dana White's Contender Series 78 weigh-in results: One fighter heavy in Las Vegas". MMA Junkie. Retrieved 2025-08-18.
7. Sherdog.com. "Dana White's Contender Series - Contender Series 2025: Week 2". Sherdog. Retrieved 2025-07-09.
8. Meshew, Jed (2025-08-19). "DWCS Season 9, Week 2 Results: Five contracts awarded on night of impressive finishes". MMA Fighting. Retrieved 2025-08-20.
9. "UFC Signs Croatian Heavyweight Brando "The Balkan Bear" Peričić". CroatianSports.com. 2025-08-20. Retrieved 2025-08-21.
10. Sherdog.com. "Dana White's Contender Series - Contender Series 2025: Week 3". Sherdog. Retrieved 2025-07-09.
11. Staff (2025-08-26). "Dana White's Contender Series 2025 Week 3 – Play-by-Play & Results". Cageside Press. Retrieved 2025-08-27.
12. Sherdog.com. "Dana White's Contender Series - Contender Series 2025: Week 4". Sherdog. Retrieved 2025-09-03.
13. Vreeland, Daniel (2025-09-03). "DWCS 2025: Week 4 - Play-by-Play & Results". Cageside Press. Retrieved 2025-09-03.
14. Sherdog.com. "Dana White's Contender Series - Contender Series 2025: Week 5". Sherdog. Retrieved 2025-07-09.
15. Sherdog.com. "Dana White's Contender Series - Contender Series 2025: Week 6". Sherdog. Retrieved 2025-07-09.
16. Sherdog.com. "Dana White's Contender Series - Contender Series 2025: Week 7". Sherdog. Retrieved 2025-07-09.
17. Sherdog.com. "Dana White's Contender Series - Contender Series 2025: Week 8". Sherdog. Retrieved 2025-07-09.
18. Sherdog.com. "Dana White's Contender Series - Contender Series 2025: Week 9". Sherdog. Retrieved 2025-07-30.
19. Sherdog.com. "Dana White's Contender Series - Contender Series 2025: Week 10". Sherdog. Retrieved 2025-08-14.