Tag: Dana White’s Contender Series 66

DWCS 66 winner Ramon Taveras excited for opportunity at redemption vs. Serhiy Sidey at UFC 297

Ramon Taveras will get to run things back with Serhiy Sidey after earning a contract at Dana White’s Contender Series 66.

LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Ramon Taveras[/autotag] will get to run things back with [autotag]Serhiy Sidey[/autotag] after earning a contract at Dana White’s Contender Series 66.

In his second DWCS stint this season, Taveras (9-2) needed just 29 seconds to knock out Cortavious Romious (7-2) Tuesday to earn a UFC contract.

In his first opportunity, Taveras was knocked out by Sidey at DWCS 61 – in a stoppage UFC CEO Dana White called “one of the worst ref stoppages” he’s ever seen. Now, Taveras will get a chance to right that wrong when he rematches Sidey (10-1) at UFC 297 on Jan. 20.

“The redemption is going to be great,” Taveras told MMA Junkie and other reporters during the DWCS 66 post-fight press conference. “I get to finish this guy in his own town of Canada, and I get to travel out of the country for free.

“What is it, a pay-per-view? Oh yeah, I’m definitely excited now. I didn’t know that, but yeah, I’m excited to go out there to Canada, I’m excited to put on a show for everybody. Just like the first fight, it was going my way until it wasn’t. I know I’ll finish this guy.”

Taveras has knocked out his past three opponents. He issued a warning to Sidey and the rest of the UFC’s bantamweight division that they should think twice before standing with him.

“The statement I wanted to make and I did make today was to put people on notice,” Taveras said. “And don’t be trying to stand with me, don’t be trying to bang with me, Serhiy better put on his wrestling shoes come Jan. 20.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for DWCS 66.

DWCS 66 winner Marquel Mederos’ perfect debut would be vs. James Llontop at UFC 296

Marquel Mederos wants a fellow Dana White’s Contender Series alum in his UFC debut.

LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Marquel Mederos[/autotag] wants a fellow Dana White’s Contender Series graduate in his UFC debut.

Mederos (8-1) extended his winning streak to six when he knocked out Issa Isakov (10-3) to earn a UFC contract Tuesday at Dana White’s Contender Series 66.

Mederos would love to share the UFC 296 card with Factory X teammate Brandon Royval, who challenges flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja in the co-main event. Mederos thinks DWCS 62 contract winner [autotag]James Llontop[/autotag](14-2) would be a good fight.

“I do want to fight on that same card as Brandon (Royval), that Dec. 16 card, that’s a big card for us,” Mederos told MMA Junkie and other reporters during the DWCS 66 post-fight press conference. “If I can get one of the Contender guys like James Llontop, I’d love to fight him on that card. That would be perfect.”

Mederos was happy to prove any doubters wrong about his takedown defense, where he showed great balance to stay on his feet against Isakov.

“It’s cute to me and it’s amusing when people say that I can’t wrestle,” Mederos said. “Because that’s all I heard from media all camp, ‘This guy can’t wrestle, this guy can’t wrestle.’ If that was the case, he would held had me down and held me down for that whole round, but to answer your question, yes that was the game plan for this camp. Defend the takedowns, knock his ass out.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for DWCS 66.

DWCS 66 winner Lucas Rocha knew he ‘just had to weather the storm’ before highlight reel KO

Lucas Rocha had to battle some early adversity before finishing Davi Bittencourt at Dana White’s Contender Series 66.

LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Lucas Rocha[/autotag] had to battle some early adversity before finishing [autotag]Davi Bittencourt[/autotag] at Dana White’s Contender Series 66.

Rocha (17-1) came from behind to score a highlight reel knockout of Bittencourt (14-4) in their bantamweight bout Tuesday to earn a UFC contract. Before landing the brutal knee knockout, Rocha had his back taken in Round 1 and was battling to fend off Bittencourt’s rear-naked choke attempts.

But Rocha remained calm.

“I trained this over and over, same scenario with my coaches … so I wasn’t really surprised,” Rocha told MMA Junkie and other reporters through an interpreter during the DWCS 66 post-fight news conference. “I just had to weather the storm, and I knew my time would come.”

There was some heat between Rocha and Bittencourt heading into the fight due to Rocha missing weight in their first scheduled bout last week, which was scrapped. Rocha explained what went wrong.

“The week I didn’t make the weight was the worst travel week I’ve had,” Rocha said. “We had 18 hours, then we got stuck in the plane, there was a storm, I couldn’t eat what I needed to eat, I couldn’t drink water, I couldn’t rest. It was literally a nightmare. I just had to make adjustments to actually be able to fight this week

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for DWCS 66.

Dana White reveals he hired ‘f*cking UFC lunatic’ Joe Reeves, winner of matchmaker sweepstakes

Dana White was so blown away with a UFC fan who won a contest that he gave him a job.

LAS VEGAS – The UFC has added a new member to its matchmaking team thanks to a fan contest.

For a matchmaker sweepstakes, the UFC gave fans an opportunity to enter a competition that required them to build their dream fight card. The winner of the competition got to fly to Las Vegas, attend a matchmaker meeting and meet UFC CEO [autotag]Dana White[/autotag], among other things.

A man named Joe Reeves won the competition, but his duties ended up extending far more than just a day. White was so blown away by Reeves’ knowledge that he hired him full time.

“You want to know how f*cking good Joe is? I just hired Joe,” White said at the DWCS 66 post-event news conference. “Joe works for us now. This f*cking kid is awesome. I did all the contracts and I came back in, and I said I got one more. ‘You want to work for the UFC?’ He freaked out. He is a f*cking UFC lunatic. He went toe to toe with the boys today. Bring up a guy on the roster that he don’t know. He knows everybody on the roster.”

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According to White, Reeves got to work right away, booking former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt a fight.

“So, he did make a fight today,” White said. “Lenee (UFC public relations officer) came in my office this morning raving about the kid. ‘Oh,this kid is awesome. We love him.’ He met a bunch of fighters in the PI today, and one of them was Cody Garbrandt.

“They were talking and I guess Garbrandt said, ‘Listen, if you’re the matchmaker for a day, I want to fight in December.’ So he came in and started pitching us on fights for Cody Garbrandt in December, and he made a fight.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for DWCS 66.

Dana White’s Contender Series 66: Grading the winners

MMA Junkie fight analyst Dan Tom takes a closer look at the performances of the six winners from Dana White’s Contender Series 66.

Week 10 of Dana White’s Contender Series (2023) took place on Tuesday in Las Vegas, and we’re grading the winners from the six-fight card, which streamed on ESPN+ from the UFC Apex.

With a simple but digestible format that has had the MMA fanbase responding, this series has shown to have legs in multiple ways while serving as a crockpot for contenders the UFC matchmakers can use to fill their roster for future events. With that trend in mind, I once again will be taking a look at the winning fighters, regardless of whether or not they won a UFC contract, and grading their performances in regard to their probability of returning to a UFC stage.

Dana White’s Contender Series 66 results: Record amount of UFC contracts eclipsed in Season 7 finale

Season 7, Week 10 of Dana White’s Contender Series goes down Tuesday, and MMA Junkie will have live results from on-site at the UFC Apex.

LAS VEGAS – MMA Junkie reported from Tuesday’s Dana White’s Contender Series 66 event.

Dana White’s Contender Series cards see prospects fighting for the opportunity to sign a UFC deal, with promotion CEO Dana White on hand to make the decisions at the UFC Apex. Tuesday’s episode was the 10th and final of the show’s seventh season.

White was once again in a generous mood as he eclipsed the previous record of 43 as he offered contract Nos. 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, and 46 on the season. Five of the six winners received UFC deals: bantamweight Lucas Rocha, lightweight [autotag]Marquel Mederos[/autotag], featherweight [autotag]Connor Matthews[/autotag], flyweight [autotag]Andre Lima[/autotag], and bantamweight [autotag]Ramon Taveras[/autotag] this week.

The lone fighter who did not receive a contract was middleweight [autotag]Torrez Finney[/autotag], a physical specimen who finished [autotag]Yuri Panferov[/autotag] by second-round rear-naked choke.

White said Finney needed more time to develop and that he’d be doing the fighter a disservice by bringing him into the UFC now.

Additionally, White announced Taveras’ UFC debut – a rare move due to rare circumstances. Taveras will rematch [autotag]Serhiy Sidey[/autotag], a fighter he lost to in controversial fashion due to a premature stoppage earlier in the season.

Full results of Dana White’s Contender Series 66 include:

  • Ramon Taveras def. Cortavious Romious via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 0:29
  • Andre Lima def. Rickson Zenidim via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
  • Connor Matthews def. Jair Farias via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
  • Torrez Finney def. Yuri Panferov via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 2:43
  • Marquel Mederos def. Issa Isakov via knockout (knee) – Round 1, 4:09
  • Lucas Rocha def. Davi Bittencourt via knockout (knee) – Round 2, 0:18

Continue reading below for more details about each fight.

DWCS 66 video: Marquel Mederos lands crushing first-round knee knockout

Knee knockouts were trending early in the season finale of Dana White’s Contender Series at the UFC Apex.

Knockouts by knee are the trending result at the season finale of Dana White’s Contender Series.

In the second bout of Dana White’s Contender Series 66 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, [autotag]Marquel Mederos[/autotag] (8-1) became the second fighter in as many bouts to finish a fight with a knee knockout.

In the first round against Issa Isakov (10-3), Mederos pressed forward and timed a crushing knee to the jaw. Isakov was immediately stiffened and timbered to the canvas at 4:09.

Check out video of the finish below (via X):

Mederos, a Factory X product with only one career loss, extended his current winning streak to six, which equals his total number of finishes in nine pro bouts.

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Up-to-the-minute results of DWCS 66 include:

  • Marquel Mederos def. Issa Isakov via knockout (knee) – Round 1, 4:09
  • Lucas Rocha def. Davi Bittencourt via knockout (knee) – Round 2, 0:18

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DWCS 66 video: Lucas Rocha blasts opponent with knee for comeback knockout

Lucas Rocha got the season finale of Dana White’s Contender Series started with an incredible comeback finish.

[autotag]Lucas Rocha[/autotag] had to overcome some adversity, but it made his knockout finish that much sweeter.

In the first bout of Dana White’s Contender Series 66 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Rocha (17-1) faced Davi Bittencourt in a bantamweight clash with a potential UFC contract on the line. Bittencourt (14-4) made a strong showing in the first round with a smothering grappling game, but his fortunes quickly reversed just 18 seconds into Round 2.

After giving up a lot of control time and fighting off submissions in the first round, Rocha knew he had to change things quickly in the second round. Ready for inevitable takedown attempt, Rocha timed a beautiful right knee up the middle as Bittencourt shot in. As a result, Bittencourt faceplanted to the canvas for a devastating knockout.

Check out video of the finish below (via X):

Rocha has now won six straight, a streak that includes five finishes. It was also a moment of redemption for the Brazilian, who was originally scheduled to complete at DWCS 65, but missed weight, causing the bout to be rebooked.

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Photos: Dana White’s Contender Series 66 weigh-ins and faceoffs

Check out these photos from the Dana White’s Contender Series 66 weigh-ins and faceoffs in Las Vegas.

Check out these photos from the Dana White’s Contender Series 66 weigh-ins and faceoffs in Las Vegas. (Photos by Ken Hathaway, MMA Junkie)