The finale of Dana White’s Contender Series saw another five mixed martial artists get added to the UFC roster, with multiple highlight-reel knockouts capping off Season 9 of the show.
Featherweights Marwan Rahiki and Ananias Mulumba put on an absolute barnburner that had Dana White on his feet.
The opening round saw Rahiki get dropped and nearly stopped by Mulumba twice, but he also landed a knockdown of his own and stormed back in the second round to earn a KO win thanks to a massive uppercut.
Rahiki, 23, improved to 7-0 as a pro while Mulumba, 27, fell to 9-3. Dana White said that while Mulumba was not given a contract, the UFC plans on inviting him back to compete next year on Season 10.
Meanwhile, bantamweights Won Il Kwon and Juan Diaz went back and forth testing each other’s chins for close to 10 minutes until Diaz landed a stunning spinning elbow knockout late in the second round.
Diaz improved to 15-1-1 and has won his past eight fights. His victory on Tuesday night marked the first spinning elbow knockout in the show’s history.
Wes Schultz made good on his second Contender Series appearance in as many years, submitting Mario Mingaj in middleweight action.
After dropping Mingaj with a left hand early, Schultz locked in the first Suloev stretch submission in the show’s history. Schultz, 29 from Wisconsin, competed last summer but lost his matchup to Mansur Abdul-Malik, who was one of the top prospects to come out of Season 8.
Freddy Vidal couldn’t do the same in his second DWCS bout, though. Vidal was the only fighter from Week 5 in early September who ended up winning his fight but not walking home with a UFC contract. Vidal, a high school wrestling and football coach by day, had accepted a 205-pound matchup with Felipe Franco on short notice and missed weight beforehand, but he ended up pulling off a dramatic submission victory with just 12 seconds remaining in the match, so the UFC matchmakers gave him another shot and an opportunity to compete on the show with more time to prepare.
Vidal’s second appearance was the featured Week 10 matchup and the final bout of the latest season. He took on Levi Rodrigues in a light-heavyweight contest. Rodrigues defended several takedown attempts early before landing a big knee that dropped Vidal and some follow-up strikes to get the first-round stoppage.
Also on the six-fight card, Michael Oliveira improved to 9-0 with a thoroughly impressive performance and ended up stopping the durable Victor Valenzuela in a welterweight scrap.
Jovan Leka won a unanimous decision over Azamat Nuftillaev in a slow-paced heavyweight bout that saw Leka struggle to find a finish in the final two rounds after Nuftillaev gassed out after the first round.
DWCS Season 9, Week 10 Official Results:
— Levi Rodrigues def. Freddy Vidal by TKO 3:20 of Round 1
— Juan Diaz def. Won Il Kwon by KO at 4:58 of Round 2
— Marwan Rahiki def. Ananias Mulumba by KO at 2:13 of Round 2
— Michael Oliveira def. Victor Valenzuela by TKO at 3:56 of Round 2
— Jovan Leka def. Azamat Nuftillaev by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-27, 29-27)
— Wes Schultz def. Mario Mingaj by submission (Suloev stretch) at 1:51 of Round 1
UFC contract recipients: Levi Rodrigues, Juan Diaz, Michael Oliveira, Wes Schultz, Marwan Rahiki
