DWCS Dana's Contender Series 2025 thread

[TCE]

Summer is approaching which means DWCS season 9 will also be approaching.


*Updated: 07/08/25


Confirmed Fights:


Heavyweight
Josh Hokit - 27 / 5-0 vs. Guilherme Uriel - 28 / 6-1 (Week 2)
Elisha Ellison - 28 / 5-1 vs. Brando Peričić - 30 / 4-1 (Week 3)
Guilherme Pat - 5-0 vs. Anthony Guarascio - 31 / 4-0 (Week 5)


Light Heavyweight
Abdulrakhman Yakhyaev - 24 / 6-0 vs. Alik Lorenz - 28 / 6-1 (Week 3)
Ivan Gnizditskiy - 29 / 5-0 vs. Felipe Franco - 24 / 8-0 (Week 5)
Jair de Oliveira - 29 / 6-0 vs. Rafael Tobias - 22 / 13-1 (Week 7)
Mahamed Aly - 31 / 4-0 vs. Iwo Baraniewski - 26 / 5-0 (Week TBA)


Middleweight
Christopher Ewert - 31 / 7-0 vs. Yuri Panferov - 28 / 8-1 (Week 1)
Cam Rowston - 30 / 11-3 vs. Brandon Holmes - 28 / 5-0 (Week 2)
Ryan Gandra - 30 / 7-1 vs. Vitor Costa - 24 / 8-1 (Week 3)
In Soo Hwang - 31 / 8-1 vs. Paddy McCorry - 27 / 6-1 (Week 6)
Baysangur Susurkaev - 24 / 8-0 vs. Murtaza Talha - 29 / 7-1 (Week 1)
Ilian Bouafia - 29 / 6-0 vs. Neemias Santana - 27 / 7-2-1 (Week 1)
Cezary Oleksiejczuk - 25 / 15-3 vs. Theo Haig - 28 / 6-0 (Week 4)
Luis Felipe Dias - 30 / 15-5 vs. Jonathan Figueroa - 30 / 12-1 (Week 8)
Juan Andres Cabrera - 21 / 9-1 vs. Jimmie Pace Jr. - 29 / 7-2 (Week 9)


Welterweight
Jimmy Drago - 30 / 7-2 vs. Ty Miller - 24 / 5-0 (Week 1)
Jack Congdon - 30 / 9-2 vs. Jean-Paul Lebosnoyani - 26 / 8-2 (Week 4)



Lightweight
Samuel Sanches - 22 / 10-1 vs. Chasen Blair - 26 / 7-3 (Week 5)
Mandel Nallo - 32 / 13-3 vs. Samuel Silva - 29 / 13-4-1 (Week 4)
Cristian Pérez - 25 / 13-1 vs. Manoel Sousa - 27 / 12-1 (Week 3)


Featherweight
Márcio Barbosa - 26 / 16-2 vs. Damon Wilson - 31 / 9-2 (Week 3)
Radley Da Silva - 29 / 7-1 vs. George Mangos - 21 / 7-0 (Week 1)
José Delano - 28 / 15-3 vs. Manuel Exposito - 24 / 13-2 (Week 2)
Tommy Cuozzi - 25 / 8-0 vs. Ramiro Jimenez - 26 / 10-0 (Week 2)
Tommy McMillen - 27 / 8-0 vs. David Mgoyan - 21 / 7-0 (Week 4)
Cam Teague - 27 / 9-1 vs. Lerryan Douglas - 30 / 12-5 (Week 5)
Javier Reyes - 31 / 21-5 vs. Icaro Brito - 26 / 8-1 (Week 7)
Demba Seck - 30 / 10-2 vs. Kurtis Campbell - 23 / 7-0 (Week TBA)

Bantamweight
Kaushik Saikumar - 27 / 5-0 vs. Louis Lee Scott - 25 / 9-0 (Week 2)
Hecher Sosa - 29 / 13-1 vs. Mackson Lee - 26 / 9-0 (Week 6)
Raphael Uchegbu - 10-1 vs. Cody Chovancek - 26 / 8-0 (Week TBA)


Women's Flyweight
Shanelle Dyer - 24 / 6-0 vs. Carol Foro - 8-1 (Week 5)
Jeisla Chaves - 28 / 5-0 vs. Sofia Montenegro - 26 / 6-1 (Week 7)


Flyweight
Frank Silva - 20 / 7-0-1 vs. An Tuan Ho - 24 / 7-1 (Week 4)



Confirmed Fighters:


Heavyweight

Rafael Pergentino - 5-0


Light Heavyweight

Luke Fernandez - 30 / 5-0


Middleweight

Đani Barbir - 7-0
Mantas Kondratavičius - 7-1
Mario Mingaj - 7-0


Welterweight

Yoon Sung Jang - 22 / 7-1
Thomas Gantt - 32 / 10-0
Michael Oliveira - 27 / 8-0


Featherweight

Ananias Mulumba - 26 / 9-2


Bantamweight

Juan Díaz - 27 / 14-1-1
Adrian Luna Martinetti - 29 / 16-0


Flyweight

Paulo da Silva - 23 / 11-1
Rashid Vagabov - 27 / 12-2
Roque Conceição Junior - 25 / 10-2


Fighters Out

Will Currie
Cody Law
Regina Tarin
Damian Pinas
Jon Kunneman
Nikola Joksović

 

[Hellowhosthat]

Summer is approaching which means DWCS season 9 will also be approaching.

Anyone have any rumours or sources yet on who will be on this season?

I'll keep this post updated with any news on fights and fighters signed to compete.

@Hellowhosthat @BoxerMaurits

Its usually about May time when stuff starts coming through.

 

[TCE]

Its usually about May time when stuff starts coming through.

Damn, I was too eager, haha.

I wish they had a winter/spring show as well as the summer/autumn show.

Do love the CS.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

Damn, I was too eager, haha.

I wish they had a winter/spring show as well as the summer/autumn show.

Do love the CS.

The road to UFC info for this year came out today if you can be bothered to do that.

 

[TCE]

The road to UFC info for this year came out today if you can be bothered to do that.

I've never seen a Road to UFC episode, any good?

 

[Hellowhosthat]

I've never seen a Road to UFC episode, any good?

Yeah I enjoy it. Kind of like TUF but with multiple tournaments and you don't have to watch the show to get to the fights really.

 

[The_Renaissance]

Love this thread, looking forward to it picking up steam.

 

[Marko Atanasovik]

I suppose.
Daniiar Toichubek
Adrian Luna Martinetti
Louis Lee Scott
Rodrigo Vera
Mitchell McKee
Tommy McMillen
Luke Riley
Icaro Brito
Amru Magomedov
Eliezer Kubanza
Geovanis Palacios
Tornike Gigauri
Khabib Nabiev
Virgil Augen
Matej Penaz
Rasul Magomedov
Felipe Franco
Mario Piazzon
Slim Trabelsi
Marsel Sychev
...

 

[Hellowhosthat]

I suppose.
Daniiar Toichubek
Adrian Luna Martinetti
Louis Lee Scott
Rodrigo Vera
Mitchell McKee
Tommy McMillen
Luke Riley
Icaro Brito
Amru Magomedov
Eliezer Kubanza
Geovanis Palacios
Tornike Gigauri
Khabib Nabiev
Virgil Augen
Matej Penaz
Rasul Magomedov
Felipe Franco
Mario Piazzon
Slim Trabelsi
Marsel Sychev
...

Definitely not Sychev, he's on a ban for a couple of years outside Russia.

Is Trabelsi out of contract at PFL? I hadn't heard that

 

[The_Renaissance]

Definitely not Sychev, he's on a ban for a couple of years outside Russia.

Is Trabelsi out of contract at PFL? I hadn't heard that

Denzel Freeman beat Cunha last weekend, 6-1 now, could see getting a shot at HW. Slim pickings out there, maybe that 4-0 dude you've got as number 1 in your thread? Bloody Piazzon probably gets another shot, mainly down to lack of options.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

Denzel Freeman beat Cunha last weekend, 6-1 now, could see getting a shot at HW. Slim pickings out there, maybe that 4-0 dude you've got as number 1 in your thread? Bloody Piazzon probably gets another shot, mainly down to lack of options.

Yeah those guys. The winner of Schoenfelder Vs Curasco (or whatever he's called) in CFFC probably gets a shot too. If I was them I'd probably let heavyweight develop for another year outside of a couple of fights.

I think guys like Joel lier will be ready for next year.

 

[The_Renaissance]

Yeah those guys. The winner of Schoenfelder Vs Curasco (or whatever he's called) in CFFC probably gets a shot too. If I was them I'd probably let heavyweight develop for another year outside of a couple of fights.

I think guys like Joel lier will be ready for next year.

Just had a look - Guarascio, 3-0, 'brawler', face tatts. You'd think Schoenfelder wins and gets a second shot. The dude who beat him last season got cut the other day, pissed hot and got a 2yr suspension after his 'win'.

Probably like Piazzon vs. Freeman and Schoenfelder vs that 4-0 Shah guy, who will probably be 5-0 by then. No need to do any other HW fights this year.

 

[BoxerMaurits]

@TCE From what I’ve heard, Ilias Bulaid will be on this year’s edition or even sign directly to the UFC.
I also hope that Matěj Peňáz will get another shot, or maybe just get’s a contract straight away. That guy has developed so much the last years and his striking is insanely slick. Perhaps @Hellowhosthat knows what’s going on with him?
I’ve been following Peňáz since his early GLORY days, and the guy only lost against fellow super-prospect Donovan Wisse, who later on became a dominant Kickboxing champion and hasn’t lost a fight since.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

@TCE From what I’ve heard, Ilias Bulaid will be on this year’s edition or even sign directly to the UFC.
I also hope that Matěj Peňáz will get another shot, or maybe just get’s a contract straight away. That guy has developed so much the last years and his striking is insanely slick. Perhaps @Hellowhosthat knows what’s going on with him?
I’ve been following Peňáz since his early GLORY days, and the guy only lost against fellow super-prospect Donovan Wisse, who later on became a dominant Kickboxing champion and hasn’t lost a fight since.

Penaz won't be on this year unfortunately. He's in the Oktagon middleweight tournament which wont finish until the end of the year. I imagine if he wins that he'll sign straight afterwards.

 

[BoxerMaurits]

Penaz won't be on this year unfortunately. He's in the Oktagon middleweight tournament which wont finish until the end of the year. I imagine if he wins that he'll sign straight afterwards.

Makes sense

 

[Ara tech]

Amru and Khabib Nambiev are certain to deliver.

UFC is the holy grail, not PFL from them. I don't think they will be signed by someone else expect the UFC.

 

[EndlessCritic]

fuck i love dwcs so much

 

[Koala]

My bets:
Amru Magomedov, Chopurov, Khabib Nabiev
Luke Riley, small Hardwick, Paddy McCorry, Leblond or the Jawany guy, I will try James Sheehan
Phumi Nketa, Vinicius Pires, Satybaldiev, Lany Silva, Brazilian Japanese small girl, Marcos flyweight, a bunch of other Brazilian LFA fighters (there is almost one outstanding one in each weight class)
Yakhyaev, Lee Scott, Younousov, Augen, Bouafia
Baysangur Susurkaev, Ramazan Gasanov, Murtazali Magomedov
Kubanza, Ken Sekeletu, Hwende, Bulaid, maybe Dalidko (Brave HW champ)
Bilal Hasan, Luke Fernandez
Adiguzel, Aljarouj if really French, and Novenyi if good wins next week
Otari Tanzilovi again, Aaron Tau again
Maybe African Japanese guy
Maybe the Pink Panther Brit of FCC
1 or 2 Fighting Nerds (Palacios? Brito?)
Maybe Manoel Sousa
Some Brazilian girls

 

[STAY GOLD]

I think the ARES crew has got to be there -- Sola, Augen, Younousov, Yakhyaev. Augen is the only one I could see them possibly passing on based on his fighting style.

Riley and Armu have got to be locks for this, if they're not signed straight to the UFC.

Not mentioned previously, but Vitor Costa, Vinicius Pires and Julieta Martinez have got to be on there as well. Costa is the Jungle Fight light heavyweight champ., he finishes fights and is a client of Iridium, so I'm sure they'll try to get him on the show. Vinicius just won the LFA bantamweight title so you know that is almost certainly a qualifier to get the call. Juli was on last season, she won and they seemed interested in signing her, but they passed because she was too young and small for 115, but I wouldn't be surprised if they gave her a call back already.

Personally, I would love to see Jose Delano and Juan Diaz on there. Both match the qualities Dana is looking for in fighters for the show.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

I think the ARES crew has got to be there -- Sola, Augen, Younousov, Yakhyaev. Augen is the only one I could see them possibly passing on based on his fighting style.

Riley and Armu have got to be locks for this, if they're not signed straight to the UFC.

Not mentioned previously, but Vitor Costa, Vinicius Pires and Julieta Martinez have got to be on there as well. Costa is the Jungle Fight light heavyweight champ., he finishes fights and is a client of Iridium, so I'm sure they'll try to get him on the show. Vinicius just won the LFA bantamweight title so you know that is almost certainly a qualifier to get the call. Juli was on last season, she won and they seemed interested in signing her, but they passed because she was too young and small for 115, but I wouldn't be surprised if they gave her a call back already.

Personally, I would love to see Jose Delano and Juan Diaz on there. Both match the qualities Dana is looking for in fighters for the show.

I dunno what the contract situation of the Ares guys is. Ideally I would put them all on but Ares blocked Bouafia last year.

I don't think Augen's style is a problem really, he's a grappler but he gets finishes.