For those who’re starting to got down to watch and observe MMA on a week-to-week foundation, you’ll want to grasp one thing vital: MMA doesn’t start and finish with the game’s prime promotion, the UFC. Whereas the UFC is, was, and at all times can be a objective for prime prospects of the cage, it’s simply one among a collection of objectives for these rivals.
To achieve a better appreciation of simply what these women and men do and sacrifice with the intention to attain their vacation spot of preventing in Dana White‘s promotion, you’ve acquired to make a night of it and absorb some occasions from the native and/or worldwide scenes. For the previous seven years, the native scene has supplied a pathway towards an outlet the place careers and lives can and can change within the span of 15 quick minutes.
That outlet: Dana White’s Contender Sequence. Initially titled Dana White’s Tuesday Evening Contender Sequence, every week, tales of fighters are briefly chronicled earlier than they enter the famed Octagon for a shot at a assured UFC deal.
Magnificent Thought Enters Season Eight Tuesday Evening
Since its inception in July of 2017, 245 prospects have secured UFC contracts as a direct results of their appearances on this system, factoring within the 11 contracts handed out on the Dana White’s Contender Sequence: Brazil season held after season two in the summertime of 2018.
These occasions have been taped applications over the course of a two-day interval in August of that yr and have been broadcast between Aug. 24 and Sept. 7, 2018. Whereas White oversees the promotion, it’s a unique group.
Though Contender Sequence isn’t a part of the UFC, all 50 fights this season happen contained in the Octagon.
Nothing Comes Simple on Contender Sequence
Generally within the sport of MMA, the style by which a fighter wins is immaterial. Nevertheless, as we’ve seen all through the years on Contender Sequence, simply profitable the battle isn’t sufficient to get a deal.
Similar to a UFC card on a Saturday evening, the highlight-reel finishes are likelier to get clicks on the Web. Within the context of this program, the tactic of victory typically spells the distinction between a fighter gaining a contract and that contender listening to the phrases “…simply not tonight” from the UFC’s CEO.
A major instance of a fighter having to attempt once more occurred with probably the most controversial graduate of this system. Throughout week one of many second season, former Dallas Cowboys defensive finish Greg Hardy, who was arrested on home violence expenses throughout his time with the Carolina Panthers, was booked to seem in the principle occasion after the doorways of the gridiron have been closed to him.
Whereas Hardy gained that evening in 2018 by means of first-round knockout versus Austen Lane in 57 seconds, White positioned him on a improvement contract and invited him again for the finale. He scored one other knockout, this time in solely 17 seconds, towards Tebaris Gordon to realize a full-fledged contract.
Understanding the Task is Key
For those who’re sufficiently old to have seen reruns of The Unimaginable Hulk tv collection, you already know the traditional citation from protagonist David Banner: “Mr. McGee, don’t make me indignant. You wouldn’t like me after I’m indignant.” This line of dialogue, spoken by Lou Ferrigno, has lived on because the centerpiece of one among tv’s most iconic moments.
Fighters wouldn’t need to make the top of the UFC indignant, both. On Contender Sequence, Dana White holds all the facility because it pertains to the variety of UFC offers awarded on the finish of a given evening. Whereas there have been various episodes the place he’s awarded offers to the winners of a number of fights, nothing takes the cake greater than the speech he made to Laura Sanko on the finish of the 2022 season premiere.
“Let me put it to you this fashion,” White started. “Let me reiterate what this present is about: There’s a number of gifted individuals on the market, there’s a number of gifted fighters, a number of gifted children. I don’t watch something on anyone earlier than they arrive right here. Tonight, you had any individual from [Urijah] Faber’s camp, you’ve acquired Sarah Longo. You’ve acquired all these well-known groups with these guys that are available in right here. I don’t watch any of these items. I don’t care what you probably did in your profession the final 5 years. What are you going to do tonight?”
He gave a warning to then-upcoming fighters to ramp up their depth and awarded the lone contract that night to Joe Pyfer.
A Regional Championship Can Yield to a UFC Deal
As beforehand talked about, the native MMA scene is an important part alongside the highway to the massive leagues of the game, the UFC included. Promotions that stream their occasions on UFC Battle Go act as a measuring stick in figuring out which fighters are able to take that subsequent step towards the limelight of a serious group.
Take, for instance, Payton Talbott, previously the A1 Fight Bantamweight Champion. A yr in the past right now, he was simply a number of days faraway from showing on Contender Sequence. That evening, he tried to parlay his success on the California scene right into a cope with MMA’s premier group, simply besting Reyes Cortez by unanimous determination.
Whereas Talbott has solely been on the UFC’s energetic roster for lower than a full calendar yr, it’s clear that he’s acquired the abilities to thrive within the promotion.
Remaining Ideas
On the core, Dana White’s Contender Sequence will at all times be related towards the objective of discovering MMA’s future champions. It’s at all times been related in that regard. Maybe its most crucial yr came about in 2020 throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Regardless of the delayed begin to this system’s fourth season and the truth that the season stretched into November for the primary time ever because of the UFC holding an autumn residency on Battle Island in Abu Dhabi, Contender Sequence supplied a lifeline for fighters to step into the cage at a time when native promotions have been simply beginning to come out of hiatuses introduced on by the virus.
It’s nonetheless a key lifeline towards the event of fighters’ careers as season eight kicks off this week.
