Dana White’s Contender Series is back for season four and set to run from August to September — with the first event going down on August 4. With fights just now starting to be made sources confirm to Cageside Press that JP Buys will take on Nate Smith in a flyweight bout. The fight is set to happen on August 11.
This will be the second time JP Buys has competed on the Contender Series. In 2017, Buys lost to Joby Sanchez on the contender series by second-round stoppage. Since then, Buys has moved up to 135 at bantamweight and won his next four fights. Right after his loss to Sanchez, Joby captured the EFC bantamweight title and defended his title once.
Buys, who is originally from South Africa, currently resides in Dallas, Texas. He trains out of Fortis MMA with the likes of Ryan Spann, Miles Johns, Geoff Neal, and Kennedy Nzechukwu who have all fought and won contracts on the Contender Series. Buys is 8-2 overall and will be making the move back down to flyweight being the first time since 2017.
Standing across from Buys will be American Nate “The Savage” Smith. After an extensive twenty fight amateur career with numerous titles, he went pro in late 2017. Smith has a big background in wrestling as he was a USA Junior Olympic wrestler in Greco Roman, a Fargo All-American. as well as a national champion.
Smith is 6-0 as a pro and his last fight was for LFA exclusively seen on UFC Fight Pass. Smith is formerly of Factory X and currently trains with Elevation Fight Team, alongside the likes of Curtis Blaydes, Austin Hubbard, Cory Sandhagen, Justin Gaethje and more.
