The 10th and final week of this season’s Dana White’s Contender Series took place Tuesday night and saw four fighters receive Ultimate Fighting Championship contracts.
In the main event, Nick Klein (5-1) wasted no time upsetting huge favorite Heraldo Souza (9-1-1) as he got a takedown in the early seconds of the fight, and in a total of 37 seconds, Klein closed the show with a first-round, rear-naked choke victory.
Jonathan Micallef, Yadier Del Valle and Luis Gurule joined Klein as winners who were awarded contracts. Two of the winners, Gurule and Klein, both came in on short-notice to secure wins.
The co-main event would have a tough act to follow after Del Valle and Monteiro, but it was quite the follow-up in itself with undefeated flyweights Nick Piccininni and Gurule taking center stage. Both fighters had their moments in the first round, with Gurule finding his momentum in the later stages of the period.
It was very much a wrestler versus striker matchup that was extremely close heading into the third round. An entertaining third frame with moments for both would leave it in the hands of the judges, and it would be Gurule who got the split-decision victory.
Gurule is now 10-0 in his professional career.
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A featherweight contest between Del Valle (7-0) and Antonio Monteiro (17-4-1, 1 NC) was one of the most exciting matchups not just of the night, but the season. After a first round that saw Del Valle in control and Monteiro throwing only one significant strike, the two would come out on fire in the second.
Del Valle compiled 91 significant strikes in the first two rounds. Herb Dean would warn Monteiro to defend himself and keep fighting, which he would as he found his own momentum in the second stanza.
The third round would be similar to the second, with the high pace of action, but it would be Monteiro who came out strong in the final period. After controlling most of the frame, Monteiro attempted a guillotine and after he let it go, Del Valle would land big elbows to cut open his opponent. After a 15-minute war, Del Valle would be awarded the decision.
The lone women’s clash was a matchup between Julieta Martinez (7-0) and Leslie Hernandez (4-1) in the strawweight division. It was a very entertaining back-and-forth despite a slow start for Martinez, who turned the tide following a rough initial five minutes, and would put on quite the turnaround performance securing several takedowns in the final two stanzas.
Martinez would slow down Hernandez as the women would fight the entire three rounds, and the judges scored it in favor of Martinez by way of split decision.
Despite her victory, Martinez was not awarded with a contract, but Dana White said the UFC would keep her training at its Performance Institute in Mexico.
Mohamed Ado (5-0) did not show enough on “Dana White Looking For A Fight,” had his second opportunity to impress the UFC’s head honcho as he faced Micallef (6-1). Coming into the night, Micallef was the biggest betting favorite of the event (-180), and after a few reversals between the two of them, Micallef made quick work of Ado with a Round 1 triangle-choke victory.
