Dana White’s Contender Series Season 7, Week 5 had a little bit of everything, including some last minute replacements, top prospects, and a fighter endorsed by a former UFC champion.
DWCS 2023 episode five was topped by Bruno Lops and Brendson Ribeiro, who appeared to have no love lost between them at Friday’s weigh-in. Among the other notables on the card, Dione Barosa was stepping up on short notice to replace Corinne Laframboise at the event. That, after Laframboise’s pre-fight blood test had revealed her to be three months pregnant. Happy news, but her career will have to be put on hold for the time being.
With Barbosa stepping up, she got an endorsement from former UFC women’s featherweight champion (and current Bellator champ) Cris Cyborg, a fellow Brazilian.
Like Barbosa, Dylan Budka was also taking a bout on short notice, facing Chad Henekom at middleweight after fighting at heavyweight less than two weeks ago. Budka weighed in around 207 pounds for that heavyweight bout (which he won), so he probably didn’t cut any weight, but it’s still crazy to see him make middleweight successfully, and what sort of toll the short notice nature of the fight takes on the outcome remains to be seen.
Dana White’s Contender Series Season 7, Week 5 kicks off at 8PM ET on ESPN+ in the U.S., and UFC Fight Pass elsewhere. Full results can be found below.
After Dione Barbosa snagged an arm-bar submission win to open the card, forcing a verbal tap inside of a round against Rainn Guerrero, it was two straight decisions on the week five card. They could not be more different, however: Jean Silva duked it out with a tough but ultimately outworked Kevin Vallejos, while Dylan Budka found himself in a grappling-heavy affair with a lot of work against the cage. Budka came away with a win over Chad Hanekom, and was emotional after the fight, revealing that he had been homeless just three years ago.
The penultimate fight of the evening saw Ukrainian-Canadian Serhiy Sidey finish Ramon Taveras early. But the finish was not without controversy: Sidey clearly knocked down Taveras, but Taveras never appeared out of the fight, despite ref Kevin MacDonald jumping in and waving things off. An unquestionably bad stoppage.
Wrapping up the night, Brendon Ribeiro pulled off the upset, flooring Bruno Lopes with a right hand. That was followed up on the ground with nasty hammer fists, the first of which Lopes managed to avoid. Not so with the rest, and he was put out shortly after by another three of four blows.
Dana White’s Contender Series Season 7, Week 5 Results
Light heavyweight: Brendson Ribeiro def. Bruno Lopes by TKO (right hand to ground n’ pound). Round 1, 3:47
Bantamweight: Serhiy Sidey def. Ramon Taveras by TKO (strikes), Round 1, 2:26
Middleweight: Dylan Budka def. Chad Hanekom by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Featherweight: Jean Silva def. Kevin Vallejos by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Women’s flyweight: Dione Barbosa def. Rainn Guerrero by submission (arm-bar), Round 1, 4:35
Contract Winners: Dione Barbosa, Jean Silva, Dylan Budka, Serhiy Sidey, Brendson Ribeiro (Ramon Taveras will be invited back for week 10).
