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.
Kevin “El Chino” Vallejos
Age: 22 years old
Height: 5’7″ / Reach: 68″
Weight Class: Featherweight (145lbs.)
First DW’s Contender Series Fight: 2023 (Week 5)
Old DW’s Contender Series Opponent: Jean Silva (14-2 MMA)
Second DW’s Contender Series Fight: 2024 (Week 7)
New Opponent: Cam Teague (7-0 MMA)
First Contender Series Fight
Kevin Vallejos made his first appearance on the Contender Series in September of 2023 at just 21 years old.
Vallejos produced his opportunity through fighting on the Samurai Fight House promotion based out of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Kevin fought experienced and appropriate competition during his time with SFH. He also accomplished the impressive feat of capturing titles across three separate weight classes from bantamweight to lightweight.
First Contender Series Opponent
Vallejos was outclassed over the course of 15 minutes to lose a unanimous decision at the hands of Jean Silva in his first Contender Series appearance.
Silva was rewarded with a UFC contract as a result of his performance. He has looked nothing short of flawless in his time with the promotion thus far.
Jean made his UFC debut back in January stopping Westin Wilson with punches inside of the first round.
Silva returned to the octagon in June becoming the first person to KO Charles Jourdain, stopping him with an uppercut in the second round.
Jean turned around a couple weeks later and took a bout on short notice, a weight class up. The gamble paid off as Jean was able to finish Drew Dober in the third round when the doctor stepped in and stopped the fight thanks to a cut. That bout ended up being a Fight of the Night as well.
Needless to say, Jean Silva is a loss that has aged perfectly for Vallejos as he has looked borderline elite in his UFC career so far.
The Road Back
Vallejos has competed twice since competing on the Contender Series last year.
In that same amount of time Kevin has also had three bouts cancelled.
Both of Kevin’s bouts have been back under the SFH organizational banner and for the featherweight title. Kevin fought 12-9, Maximiliano Perez and submitted him via rear naked choke in the third round of their fight. A few months later, in March of this year, Vallejos stopped then 6-0 fighter, Gonzalo Contreras, with an overhand right in the second round of their bout (the original fighter in that bout withdrew).
That performance was enough to birth Vallejos another chance on the Contender Series (and pulled him out of his second cancelled bout in this time period).
Gameplan/ New Opponent
For his shot at redemption on the Contender Series Vallejos will be facing Cam Teague. Vallejos was originally slated to fight 10-0 fighter, Luke Riley, but Riley ended up having to pull out thanks to VISA issues.
Teague is also undefeated and has cut his teeth in the smaller regional promotions in the Southeast of the US. Though Teague has only really faced one experienced opponent with a winning record, the vast majority of his fights end in a hurry. His last fight was his best showing, against 9-3, Austin Lingo, in Fury FC 95 on August 2nd. Teague was able to score a stoppage via knees at the end of the second round.
This will be a scrap that fans are going to want to tune in for as it will very likely end in a finish and a new UFC contract.
