Dana White’s Contender Series Season 7, Week 10 Results

October 10, 2023

Contender Series (DWCS) - UFC Apex — LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - AUGUST 04: A general view of the Octagon prior to Dana White's Contender Series season 4 week one at UFC APEX on August 04, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Unger/DWCS LLC/Zuffa LLC)

One more week, one more chance for twelve UFC hopefuls to make it to the big show care of Dana White’s Contender Series.

Season 7 of DWCS wraps up Tuesday night in Las Vegas, with six fights rather than the usual five. That’s thanks to Lucas Rocha and Davi Bittencourt, originally scheduled to take place last week at flyweight. With Rocha missing weight badly enough that the fight was scrapped, matchmakers opted to keep the pairing together, and pushed them back a week and up a weight class to bantamweight.

Along with those hopefuls, returning fighters Connor Matthews and Ramon Taveras were getting their own second shot at the UFC. Taveras was actually fighting for the second time this season, while Matthews had appeared on the show last year, falling to Francis Marshall.

Dana White’s Contender Series Season 7, Week 10 takes place Tuesday, October 10, 2023 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, NV. The card streams live on EPSN+ in the U.S., and UFC Fight Pass elsewhere. Full results can be found below.

Rocha and Bittencourt kicked off Week 10 of DWCS Season 7, and it was Bittencourt repeatedly landing slam takedowns in the opening round. The first of those was the most emphatic but he nearly allowed Rocha to reverse position. Still, by the end of the round Davi Bittencourt had no fewer than six takedowns, and had thrown out some fun, flashy spinning attacks.

None of that mattered come round two, when Rocha connected with a knee just 18 seconds into the round for the knockout!

Second verse, same as the first. Or second fight, anyway. Marquel Mederos flashed stance switches and chewed up the calf of Issa Isakov, a training partner of Benoit St. Denis, in the opening round of their lightweight fight — and connected with a knee for the finish at 4:09 of round one! Two straight knee strike finishes to open the night!

Torrez Finney vs. Yuri Panferov was a different sort of beast. The middleweight fight saw both men swinging early, and Finney was rocked! He pursued a takedown, and landed a slam, keeping himself in it. A very active, fun first round, and in the second, Finney earned a takedown and took the back. That’s a whole lot of body to carry on your back, and Panferov did not like the neck crank he found himself in. He survived that, but Finney would secure a rear-naked choke and force the tap moments later! The first submission win of Torrez Finney’s career, and you could do worse than do it on Dana White’s Contender Series.

The first fight of the night to go the distance saw Connor Matthews pick up a unanimous decision win over Jair Farias. Matthews had an especially dominant second round, even landing a head kick that Farias somehow ate. Mixing in takedowns along with elbows in the clinch and sharp hands, Matthews looked solid in his second DWCS showing.

The lone flyweight fight of Week 10 also went the distance, with Andre Lima coming away with a clear-cut decision win. Rickson Zenidim proved to have heart and a solid chin, but it wasn’t nearly enough as Lima earned a trio of 30-27 scores.

The final fight of the night, and season, didn’t last long. Ramon Taveras and Cortavious Romious chose to stand and bang, and it was Taveras who remained standing when the dust cleared.