Dana White’s Contender Series began back in 2017. Since then, the Contender Series has produced some big-name upcoming stars like Dan Ige, Sean O’Malley, Geoff Neal, Maycee Barber, and Edmen Shahbazyan. In short, it has been a huge success for finding talent.
A Contender Series fight is one that has stakes like none other, where fighters must showcase their skills to impress the UFC president enough for a contract with the promotional giant. Holding the Contender Series with a smaller cage inside the UFC Apex venue makes for a tense atmosphere, and with only close friends and family of the competing fighters in attendance as spectators. Emotions always run high, as a limited number of contracts can be given out on any given night, and many fighters can potentially have their dreams snubbed out solely because of bad luck.
In rare cases, however, a fighter gets a second look. This series will examine those.
Bruno “Brunao” Lopes (12-1 MMA)
Age: 31 years old
Height: 6’2″ / Reach: 74.5″
Weight Class: Light Heavyweight (205lbs.)
First DW’s Contender Series Fight: 2023 (Week 5)
Old DW’s Contender Series Opponent: Brendson Ribeiro (15-7 MMA)
Second DW’s Contender Series Fight: 2024 (Week 1)
New Opponent: Mikheil Sazhiniani (13-2 MMA)
First Contender Series Fight
Bruno entered his first fight on the Contender Series with a perfect 11-0 record. He finished nine of those opponents including five by TKO and four by submission. In his last fight before going on the CS he stopped Willyanedson Paiva to win the LFA vacant light heavyweight championship.
Bruno looked solid and measured defensively early on in the fight landing some nice leg kicks among other strikes in a fight he entered as a huge favorite. But his opponent was ultra-aggressive and got Lopes to fight out of his game plan just a little bit. This ultimately opened him up to be hurt and stopped.
Bruno was dropped and finished by hammer fists in under four minutes of the first round by his opponent in what was a huge upset.
First Contender Series Opponent
In Bruno’s first fight on the Contender Series, he faced Brendson Ribeiro. Brendson entered the fight with a 14-5 record. Ribeiro, then 27-years-old, cut his teeth on the Brazilian regional MMA scene.
As for how Bruno has fared in the UFC since being signed— he’s 0-2.
Ribeiro lost his debut on the undercard of UFC 298 earlier this year to Zhang Mingyang. Mingyang was able to finish Ribeiro in under two minutes.
In his most recent fight, Brendson lost a majority decision to undefeated fighter, Magomed Gadzhiyasulov, in June.
The Road Back
When Bruno enters the octagon on August 13 it will just over 11 months since he last competed on the Contender Series. In that time, he’s competed once under the LFA banner.
Lopes submitted his opponent, 17-6 fighter and 2019 Contender Series veteran, Marcos Brigagao. Lopes took just two rounds to become the LFA light heavyweight champion once again.
Gameplan/ New Opponent
For Bruno’s shot at redemption on the Contender Series he will be facing Mikheil Sazhiniani. Mikheil will enter the fighter with a 13-2.
Mikheil is riding a six-fight win streak, featuring five finishes, since losing to Murtaza Talha, in 2022 (Talha would also compete on last season’s Contender Series fighting Rodolfo Bellato in Week 9).
Sazhiniani won the Georgian Fighting Championship’s light heavyweight championship in his last fight back in March. He took just a round to stop his opponent to bring his record to 8-0 in the GFC. Mikheil is obviously very powerful but has quite a few questionable skill level opponents on his record.
With how light the ranks of the UFC’s 205lb division currently are, a win on August 13 by either man means it will likely grant a ticket to the promotional giant.
It’ll be important for Bruno to cautiously execute his game plan as at this weight class one shot can change the entire fight, as with his first appearance on the Contender Series.
