Dana White’s Contender Series, Season 8 roster filling out with UFC hopefuls

August 9, 2024 10:50 pm ET

Dana White’s Contender Series, Season 8 kicks off in less than three months.

In recent weeks, the UFC matchmakers have been gearing up for a summer DWCS return, expected to launch Aug. 13. Athletes and matchups have slowly, but surely, been booked.

DWCS debuted in 2017 with an eight-episode inaugural season. Season 2 was held in 2018 with eight episodes, followed by a three-episode DWCS: Brasil. In 2019, DWCS was extended to 10 episodes, which it has been from Season 3 onward.

Each season, the number of fighters signed has increased. So far, the show has produced UFC notables like bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley, Maycee Barber, Geoff Neal, Ryan Spann, Sodiq Yusuff, Jamahal Hill, Taila Santos, Johnny Walker, Alex Perez, Bo Nickal, Jailton Almeida, Jack Della Maddalena and Marina Rodriguez, among others.

Scroll below to see the latest athletes and fights booked, which have been confirmed by MMA Junkie or posted about by the fighters involved. Many of the participating athletes first were reported by @MMA__Matchmaker on X. This list will be updated as more fighters and matchups are revealed.

Week 1 | Aug. 13

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – SEPTEMBER 05: (R-L) Bruno Lopes of Brazil battles Brendson Ribeiro of Brazil in a light heavyweight fight during Dana White’s Contender Series season seven, week five at UFC APEX on September 05, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

Middleweight: Mansur Abdul Malik (5-0) vs. Wes Schultz (6-1)
Welterweight: Meng Ding (34-8) vs. Rami Hamed (12-3) (MMA Ecosystem)
Light heavyweight: Bruno Lopes (12-1) vs. Mikheil Sazhiniani (13-2)
Featherweight: Jose Delgado (7-1) vs. Ernie Juarez (8-0)
Flyweight: An Tuan Ho (6-0) vs. Lone’er Kavanagh (6-0)

Week 2 | Aug. 20

Torrez Finney def. Yuri Panferov DWCS 66

Middleweight: Andreas Berg Gustafsson (10-2) vs. Pat Pytlik (9-1) (Reporter Shawn Bitter)
Heavyweight: Hugo Cunha (8-1) vs. Rizvan Kuniev (12-2-1) (Tapology)
Bantamweight: Michael Imperato (12-6) vs. Cortavious Romious (8-2) (Reporter James Lynch)
Middleweight: Torrez Finney (8-0) vs. Cameron Rowston (8-2) (Tapology)
Bantamweight: Billy Brand (5-1) vs. Cody Haddon (6-1) (Tapology)

Week 3 | Aug. 27

Middleweight: Liam Anderson (6-2) vs. Andrey Pulyaev (8-2)
Featherweight: Michael Aswell (9-1) vs. Bogdan Grad (13-2)
Middleweight: Matthieu Duclos (6-2) vs. Marco Tulio (11-1)
Bantamweight: Adam Bramhald (13-2) vs. Malcolm Wellmaker (7-0)
Flyweight: Jack Duffy (7-0) vs. Jose Ochoa (7-0) (ESPN)

Week 4 | Sept. 3

Women’s flyweight: Shannon Clark (5-0) vs. Yuneisy Duben (5-0)
Middleweight: Will Currie (12-3) vs. Djorden Santos (9-1)
Featherweight: Austin Bashi (12-) vs. Tommy McMillen (6-0)
Welterweight: Quillan Salkilld (6-1) vs. Gauge Young (8-1) (Reporter James Lynch)
Welterweight: Igor Cavalcanti (9-0) vs. Seok Hyun Ko (10-2)

Week 5 | Sept. 10

Light heavyweight: Raffael Cerqueira (11-0) vs. Francesco Mazzeo (4-0) (MMA Junkie)
Lightweight: Quemuel Ottoni (12-3) vs. Kody Steele (6-0) (MMA Mania)
Light heavyeight: Yousri Belgaroui (7-3) vs. Anvarbek Daniyalbekov (8-0)
Bantamweight: Josias Musasa (7-0) vs. Otar Tanzilov (9-0)
Women’s flyweight: Nicolle Caliari (7-2) vs. Corrine Laframboise (8-4) (Tapology)

Week 6 | Sept. 17

Bantamweight: Aaron Tau (8-0) vs. TBA
Welterweight: Daniel Frunza (8-2) vs. TBA
Middleweight: Ateba Abega Gautier (5-1) vs. Yura Naito (6-0) (GONG)
TBA vs. TBA
TBA vs. TBA

Week 7 | Sept. 24

Women’s strawweight: Alexia Thainara (10-1) vs. TBA
Light heavyweight: Kevin Christian (8-2) vs. TBA
Light heavyweight: Navajo Stirling (4-0) vs. TBA
Flyweight: Kevin Vallejos (13-1) vs. TBA
TBA vs. TBA

Week 8 | Oct. 1

Middleweight: Abdellah Er-Ramy (7-1) vs. Logan Woods (5-1) (ABC España)
Welterweight: Vanilto Antunes (16-6) vs. Islam Dulatov (10-1) (MMA Mania)
TBA vs. TBA
TBA vs. TBA
TBA vs. TBA

Week 9 | Oct. 8

Flyweight: Anthony Drilich (8-1) vs. Sean Gauci (9-1) (Southern Cross Combat)
Light heavyweight: Islem Masraf (3-0) vs. Artem Vakhitov (2-1) (MMA Propagande)
Light heavyweight: Diyar Nurogzhay (9-0) vs. Bartosz Szewczyk (8-2-1)
Heavyweight: Lucas Camacho (6-0) vs. Mario Pinto (8-0) (Reporter Shawn Bitter)
TBA vs. TBA

Week 10 | Oct. 15

Women’s strawweight: Leslie Hernandez (4-1) vs. Julieta Martinez (7-0) (X user MMA Matchmaker)
Middleweight: Alain Van De Merckt (8-0) vs. Heraldo Souza (9-1-1) (GONG)
TBA vs. TBA
TBA vs. TBA
TBA vs. TBA

Confirmed fighters without dates

Women’s strawweight: Fatima Kline (6-0)**
Women’s strawweight: Rose Conceicao (7-0)
Women’s flyweight: Alice Ardelean (9-5)**
Flyweight: Mitch Raposo (9-1)**
Flyweight: Luke Riley (13-1)*
Bantamweight: Quang Le (8-0)**
Featherweight: Icaro Brito (7-1)*
Welterweight: Mohamed Ado (5-0)
Welterweight: Ben Bennett (6-1)
Welterweight: Joey Hart (6-1)
Light heavyweight: Uran Satybaldiev (7-1)*
Heavyweight: Arthur Lopes (6-1)

* Withdrew from bout
**Signed with UFC prior to bout

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