Knockdown Daily 9/15/21: Five Fighters Offered UFC Contracts on 'Dana White's Contender Series'
Results from UFC's reality TV series lead the MMA headlines for Wednesday
Welcome to the Wednesday edition of the Knockdown Daily. This issue will cover the top stories from the past 48 hours in MMA.
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Dana White’s Contender Series Season 5 Episode 3: Five Fighters Walk Away With UFC Contracts
Five UFC contracts were handed out at Tuesday night’s episode of “Dana White’s Contender Series,” continuing the season’s trend of an incredibly high rate of fighters getting UFC contracts.
The major MMA promotion offered contracts to Jasmine Jasudavicius, Jack Della Maddalena, Lukasz Brzeski, Albert Duraev and Jailton Almeida after they won their fights on the episode.
UFC has now signed 14 of 15 winners this season, and one loser in a bout was also given a contract with the promotion. The show is set to run for seven more episodes before concluding in late 2021.
The fights on Tuesday took place at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
Almeida’s win in the main event saw him score a second-round rear naked choke over Nasrudin Nasrudinov. The submission came after a close grappling exchange in the previous round.
Duraev had the quickest win on the card, submitting Ciao Bittencourt within a round with a rare neck crank.
Brzeski capped off a dominant performance against fellow heavyweight Dylan Potter with a third-round rear naked choke.
Della Maddalena’s striking scored him a unanimous decision victory over Ange Lossa early in the evening.
Jasudavicius picked up a win to kick off the card, ending the win streak of Julia Polastri in a unanimous decision performance. Jasudavicius was moving up to flyweight for the fight, with her more recent appearances before being at strawweight.
Mo Miller, the winner in the co-main event, was the sole fighter to not be awarded a UFC contract at the end of the episode. He used wrestling to control Brandon Lewis through three rounds, defeating him via unanimous decision and handing the bantamweight his first pro loss.
A full report on the card can be read here.
Brad Tavares vs. Brendan Allen Set For December 4th UFC Card
Middleweights Brad Tavares and Brendan Allen are expected to meet at UFC’s December 4th event, per a report from Nolan King of MMA Junkie. The matchup joins a card that does not have a confirmed location at the moment.
Both fighters are currently on the rise at 185-pounds.
Tavares has picked up two wins this year, getting scorecard nods over Antonio Carlos Junior and Omari Akhmedov. He was returning after somewhat of an absence from the cage this year, as he didn’t fight for all of 2020.
The wins this year turned things around for Tavares, as he had developed a two-fight losing streak in 2018 and 2019.
Allen is also on a two-fight winning streak. He bounced back from his sole UFC loss in April, stopping Karl Roberson within a round with a heel hook.
He has since also handed Punahele Soriano his first pro loss, defeating him via unanimous decision in July.
Coming Off First UFC Win, Jared Gooden To Face Randy Brown At October 9th Card
Both coming off recent first-round victories, welterweights Randy Brown and Jared Gooden will meet at UFC’s October 9th event. Brown first announced the matchup during one of his Twitch livestreams.
The bout joins a card that does not have a confirmed location at the moment.
Brown needed just a round in his last appearance, submitting veteran Alex Oliviera with a rear naked choke in April. The fight put him back into the win column after suffering a loss against Vicente Luque in 2020.
The recent win is Brown’s only first-round victory since joining the UFC in 2016.
Gooden scored his first UFC win in July, stopping Niklas Stolze in just over a minute with strikes. The bout was a potential must-win for Gooden, as he had dropped his two prior UFC appearances via unanimous decision.
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