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Contender Series Week 3 Recap and Reactions
Dana White’s Contender Series 2021 continued last night with six fights. Let’s take a look at the recap and reactions for week 3.
Dana White’s Contender Series 2021 continued last night with six fights. After handing out ten contracts through two weeks, Dana White has shown how generous he plans to be this season. White chose to continue this pattern by handing out five more contracts during week 3. Although all six winners put on impressive performances, White decided that one fighter needed more experience. Let’s take a look at the recap and reactions for week 3 of the Contender Series 2021.
Mo Miller denied UFC contract at Contender Series week 3
Going into week 3, Mo Miller was considered most likely to earn a UFC contract. Holding a 6-0 pro record, Miller had a tough opponent in Brandon Lewis (5-1). Although he dominated throughout the fight, Miller’s inability to finish Lewis was White’s takeaway. White decided he needed more experience before getting a shot in the UFC. Miller could have gotten the finish, but honestly, he is UFC caliber and deserved the contract. After racking up more experience, no doubt Miller will be in the UFC sooner rather than later.
Jasmine Jasudavicius is a darkhorse in women’s flyweight division
Jasmine Jasudavicius came out against Julia Polastri, looking impressive. Her combination of reach advantage and grappling caught everyone’s attention early. The only issue was her inability to dominate the entire fight. She began to fade in the later rounds, allowing Polastri back into the fight. When the fight ended, Jasudavicius was awarded the unanimous decision victory. The women’s flyweight division always needs more fighters, and White awarded her with a UFC contract. Only time will tell how far she can go, but her well-rounded fight style makes her a dark horse in the division moving forward.
Lukasz Brzeski joins the heavyweight division
Lukasz Brzeski was a perfect representation of Polish MMA. Brzeski had a solid chin, relentless pressure, and looked for the finish constantly throughout the fight. He continued to damage his opponent, Dylan Potter (10-6), deep into the third round. Potter started to fade away, and Brzeski managed to keep the pressure going. Brzeski found himself in a dominant position in the third round and finished the fight with a rear-naked choke. Although Potter did not actually tap, Brzeski was gonna win by decision regardless. The heavyweight division needs new fighters, so White offered Brzeski a contract into the UFC.
Albert Duraev smashes opponent with first-round submission
Albert Duraev came into this fight with the Russian smash mentality. He lived up to the expectations from the second the fight started. Duraev landed a takedown quickly and started to inflict serious damage to his opponent Caio Bittencourt (14-7). He continued to smash until a submission opportunity opened up in the first round. Duraev pulled a brutal neck crank and ended the fight with a first-round submission win. He earned a UFC contract and made a statement to the middleweight division.
Jack Della Maddalena steals the show at Contender Series week 3
Jack Della Maddalena is one of the most exciting fighters in DWCS history. Formerly a rugby player, Maddalena has heavy hands and a never-give-up attitude. He was matched up against a tough opponent in Ange Loosa (7-2), a training partner of Kamaru Usman. Maddalena showed off his fan-friendly style that consisted of endless heavy punches, creative grappling, and cardio to match it. Although the fight went to decision, Maddalena showed the potential to be a problem in the welterweight division. Safe to say, most UFC fans will be tuning it to see his promotional debut.
Jailton Almeida puts the light heavyweight division on notice
In the headliner, Jailton Almeida was a decent underdog against Nasrudin Nasrudinov going into the fight. The tale of the tape was that Nasrudinov was another Khabib-like grappler that could smash anyone. On the contrary, Almeida was a BJJ specialist that developed solid boxing skills. Nobody could have expected the result. Almeida beat Nasrudinov at his own game and relentlessly wrestled his opponent to the ground. Once on the ground, Almeida was searching for submissions and continuing to damage Nasrudinov. In the second round, Almeida sunk in a rear-naked choke and easily earned his UFC contract. If that Almeida shows up every fight, his potential in the light heavyweight division will be endless.
After months of speculation, the UFC have confirmed that UFC 304 will be heading to Manchester’s brand-new Co-Op Live arena on Saturday July 27th.
No headliners have been announced, but the event is expected to feature a double-header with both Welterweight Champion Leon Edwards (22-3 1NC) and Interim Heavyweight Champion Tom Aspinall (14-3) defending their gold, with the latter going as far as announcing he would be on the card. The organisation have confirmed that the event will be taking place at US primetime, with prelims kicking off at 11pm BST and the main card at 3am BST.
This will be the UFC’s return to Manchester for the first time since UFC 204 in October 2016, which saw Michael Bisping (30-9) defend his Middleweight Championship against longtime rival Dan Henderson (32-15), with Gegard Mousasi (49-9) defeating Vitor Belfort (26-14) in the co-main event. Current champ Edwards was on the card too, defeating Albert Tumenov (25-4) on the prelims.
Aspinall is looking to follow in the footsteps of Bisping and become the second hometown fighter to defend their belt in the city, having been born in Salford, and living and training in the Greater Manchester area. The expectation is that he will fight Curtis Blaydes (18-4) in a rematch of their July 2022 bout in which he suffered a catastrophic knee injury just fifteen seconds into the fight.
There is somewhat more uncertainty in regards to Edwards’ opponent, with him being offered and accepting three names for UFC 300. The most likely outcome seems to be a rematch with the #2 ranked Welterweight Belal Muhammad (23-3 1NC), who has proven himself more than deserving of what is a long-awaited shot, having gone ten fights unbeaten, including a no contest with Edwards.
Signed for the card is a featherweight bout between London’s Nathaniel Wood (19-6) and Daniel Pineda (28-15), as reported by Al Zullino, with a fight between ranked featherweights Arnold Allen (19-3) and Giga Chikadze (15-3) also reportedly in the works.
This will be the first MMA event at Co-Op Live, which was due to open yesterday, but delayed at the eleventh hour due to power supply issues. The current expectation is for the arena to open on Saturday with a concert by The Black Keys. It will be the largest indoor arena in the UK with a capacity up to 23,500 for concerts but it is unknown what this figure will be for combat sports. The venue is located at Etihad Campus, just a five minute walk from Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium.
Tickets for the event will go on sale on June 7th. You can register your interest now here.
Multiple fights of significant importance will go down at ONE Fight Night 22: Sundell vs. Diachkova next week, and one of those is the featherweight MMA clash between Halil Amir and Akbar Abdullaev.
Both stars will bring an undefeated professional slate to Bangkok, Thailand’s Lumpinee Boxing Stadium at the Saturday, 4th May event, meaning someone’s 0 will have to go.
Sitting proudly at 10-0, Amir’s “No Mercy” moniker couldn’t be more fitting. The Turkish powerhouse has racked up three wins since making his debut in ONE Championship in 2022, with two of those coming by knockout.
Halil Amir kicked off his promotional tenure by steamrolling former World Title challenger Timofey Nastyukhin inside two rounds and followed that up by stopping the momentum of fellow rising talent Maurice Abevi via decision in April 2023.
“No Mercy’s” name was already on many fans’ minds after those back-to-back victories, but his next fight would solidify him as one to watch.
The 29-year-old returned at ONE Fight Night 16 last November and earned his quickest finish yet by knocking out Pakistani punisher Ahmed Mujtaba in the first round. Now undoubtedly knocking on the door of the featherweight MMA rankings, Amir will be looking to keep his hype train going against Abdullaev next Saturday.
However, that will be a lot easier said than done, considering the caliber of the Krygz star’s skill set. Abdullaev also boasts a 10-0 professional record, and he will be hunting his third straight finish in ONE Championship next month.
“Bakal” has yet to go the distance in his career, with nine knockouts and a submission comprising his slate so far.
Abdullaev debuted in ONE at ONE Fight Night 8 in March 2023, where he dispatched South Korean scrapper Oh Ho Taek inside the opening frame.
The 26-year-old striker returned four months later at ONE Fight Night 12 and handed Aaron Canarte the first loss of his career, ending the Ecuadorian’s streak of 10 wins with another first-round demolition job.
Their respective recent histories would suggest that Abdullaev will come out on top at ONE Fight Night 22, given that he easily held his own against a previously unbeaten star. But there is little doubt Amir’s stoic style will cause him problems, so their clash should be a firefight with the potential of stealing the show when it does down on 4th May.
“The Iron Man’s” next fight in ONE Championship is confirmed, and it’ll be under kickboxing rules.
For the first time since January 2023, ONE Flyweight Muay Thai World Champion Rodtang Jitmuangnon will lace up the big gloves for a battle with Denis Puric at ONE 167: Stamp vs. Zamboanga on Saturday, 8th June, inside Bangkok, Thailand’s Impact Arena.
Rodtang last competed at ONE Friday Fights 34 in September, where he suffered his first promotional loss in ONE’s striking ranks in a Muay Thai super-fight with flyweight kickboxing king Superlek Kiatmoo9.
Fortunately for the legendary Thai, his gold wasn’t up for grabs that evening as Superlek missed weight. But the pair delivered an iconic clash that rocked the combat sports world nonetheless, with Rodtang missing out by unanimous decision.
“The Iron Man” has been sidelined with a hand injury since then, and he was forced to pull out of his highly anticipated match with Takeru Segawa in his backyard in Tokyo earlier this year as a result.
However, all looks well for him to return in June, and fans are excited to see Puric get the dream fight he’s always wanted.
“The Bosnian Menace” has been amassing momentum in ONE Championship recently.
After quashing Nguyen Tran Duy Nhat’s comeback in December 2023, he scored a dynamic victory over former #2-ranked flyweight Muay Thai contender Jacob Smith at last month’s ONE Fight Night 21 to usurp the Brit’s position.
All the while, Puric has been calling out Rodtang and claiming that he would face him in any discipline.
Now, he gets his wish, and it will be fascinating to see how his never-back-down approach fares against the aggression of “The Iron Man” at ONE 167 on 8th June.
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