All future participants in Dana White’s Contender Series will probably be hoping for one thing in advance: please, please, that White is just back from vacation.
The UFC president was in a ‘good mood’ at the Apex facility in Las Vegas on Tuesday, as he issued contracts to all five winners at the weekly show. White revealed that he had just returned from some personal time away, and perhaps that in some cases made him a little generational.
This is the second time in the history of the Contender Series where all five winners were awarded contracts on one episode. It also happened in week 3 of season 3 in 2019.
Probably the easiest signing of the night was bantamweight Adrian Yanez (11-3), who recorded the fifth-fastest finish in the history of the Contender Series with a 39-second TKO over Brady Huang. Yanez, 26, rocked Huang with a counter-left heel to the chin, then kicked him off his feet moments later with another combination of two punch.
“We never try to stay completely for people,” Yanez said. “I broke my jaw once and I never want to do that again. We cut corners and move constantly. Of course, it’s shown.”
In addition to Yanez, UFC middleweight Impa Kasanganay (7-0), featherweight TJ Laramie (12-3), striker Cory McKenna (5-1) and middleweight Dustin Stoltzfus (13-1). White also indicated that Kasanganay might have been in the Octagon earlier in the Octagon, as the North Carolina fighter offered to compete in UFC Fight Night on August 22 in Las Vegas.
Laramie, from Canada, and Stoltzfus, from Germany, each earn a contract despite some strange endings to their bolts. Laramie defeated Daniel Swain via first-round TKO, when Swain said he could not advance to the first round due to what appeared to be a rib injury. And Stoltzfus’ fight against Joe Pyfer ended in the first round when Pyfer’s arm disappeared as he tried to support his fall during a slam.
White, however, appeared high on both the potential of Laramie and Stoltzfus in their respective bouts. He called Laramie “cruel” and said he expected “great things” from Stoltzfus.
Probably the most surprising signing of the night went to 21-year-old McKenna, who is from Wales but trains with Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, California. McKenna defeated an LFA 115-pound title holder in Vanessa Demopoulos, by taking her down and preventing multiple submission attempts. She also had a strong final round on her feet, en route to a unanimous decision.
White said he had reservations about signing McKenna at such a young age, but wanted to give her a chance to prove she belongs.
“Vanessa is the best girl outside of the UFC, so I’m over the moon and this win means the world,” McKenna said.
The UFC has now signed eight contracts in the first two weeks of this season on the Contender Series.
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