Susurkaev impresses but Dana White unhappy with Contender Series Week 1

The ninth season of Dana White’s Contender Series debuted Tuesday night with only one fighter earning a stoppage victory.

Suffice it to say, the UFC president was none too pleased with how Week 1 unfolded overall.   

“I think it was a weird night,” White said bluntly while clearly also biting his tongue. “That’s what I think.”

The Contender Series is a separate promotion from the UFC but the cards take place in the UFC Apex in Las Vegas with White and his UFC matchmakers sitting cageside as they assess up-and-coming talent who compete for the opportunity to earn a UFC contract if they do enough to get remembered.

In 2024, there were 42 UFC contracts awarded with 31 of the 49 total fights ending in either a knockout or submission.

Merely winning a fight does not guarantee a fighter will earn a contract. Instead, it essentially comes down to who can impress White.

Baysangur Susurkaev certainly made a positive impression on the UFC president with a first-round technical knockout win.

Susurkaev accepted his middleweight matchup with Murtaza Talha on less than one week’s notice and he put his opponent away with a slick front kick to the body that crumpled Talha roughly three minutes into their fight.

The 24-year-year-old from Chechnya, Russia improved to 9-0 in professional mixed martial arts with eight of his wins coming by KO/TKO.

Susurkaev trains with some of the top middleweights in the sport and has even been helping Khamzat Chimaev prepare Saturday’s UFC 319 middleweight title fight against champion Dricus Du Plessis. Susurkaev also regularly trains with 185-pound UFC contender Gregory Rodrigues and is trained by former UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler. Susurkaev should make for a nice addition to the UFC’s middleweight ranks.

In fact, White suggested he and the matchmakers could look to give Susurkaev a quick turnaround and that the promising young fighter could make his official UFC debut in the relatively near future.

“I haven’t been this excited about a guy in a very long time,” White said of Susurkaev and his standout performance.

Susurkaev’s win was the clear highlight of the opening week of the season.

The featured bout of the night began with some controversy when Neemias Santana was deducted a point midway through the opening round for blatantly headbutting Ilian Bouafia when the action went to the ground.

Instead of the fight ending with a disqualification, Bouafia was able to continue. The final two rounds, though, were bizarrely tentative as Bouafia backpedalled and fought defensively with Santana visibly frustrated with his opponent’s unwillingness to engage.

Bouafia ended up winning a unanimous decision, but with the final 10 minutes being uneventful, it did not result in him earning a contract. White said afterwards he thought the fight should’ve been declared a draw, but added that he wasn’t interested in signing either fighter.

Canada’s Radley Da Silva got his hand raised with a win over touted Australian prospect George Mangos in featherweight action. The current Battlefield Fight League featherweight champion was able to land takedowns at will throughout the bout, but the fact he only landed four significant strikes over the 15-minute contest left much to be desired.

The 30-year-old from Vancouver said he was disappointed in his performance and that he was unable to get a finish, adding in his post-fight interview that he would be ready to compete on the upcoming Oct. 18 Fight Night card in Vancouver if the UFC needed him.

Da Silva has won eight consecutive fights since losing his professional debut, which was back in 2013.

Mangos is only 21 and is a high-ceiling prospect, but was overpowered physically by the more experienced Da Silva for most of the fight. It would not be a surprise to see Mangos in the UFC one day in the future if he keeps developing.

Ty Miller used his reach advantage to establish an effective jab and get the better of Jimmy Drago in a solid three-round welterweight scrap, which was enough to earn Miller a UFC contract. Miller, 25, is 6-0 with one no-contest in MMA and is a veteran of the Legacy Fighting Alliance promotion.

The opening bout of the night saw Yuri Panferov sweep the scorecards against Christopher Ewert in middleweight action. Panferov improved to 9-1 as a pro with his lone loss being a submission defeat to Torrez Finney on the Contender Series in 2023. 

Ewert had a brief UFC stint earlier this year – one of the briefest imaginable – when he was signed for a short-notice matchup with Jackson McVey at UFC 317 just several days before the event, but Ewert was unable to come close to making weight. The bout was cancelled and Ewert was subsequently cut from the UFC roster.

DWCS Season 9, Week 1 Official Results:

— Ilian Bouafia def. Neemias Santana by unanimous decision (30-26, 29-27, 29-27)

— Ty Miller def. Jimmy Drago by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

— Baysangur Susurkaev def. Murtaza Talha by TKO (body kick) at 3:04 of Round1

— Radley da Silva def. George Mangos by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

— Yuri Panferov def. Christopher Ewert by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

UFC contract recipients: Baysangur Susurkaev, Ty Miller