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.
Yuri Panferov (8-1 MMA)
Age: 28 years old
Height: 6’1″ / Reach: 72.5″
Weight Class: Middleweight (185lbs.)
First DW’s Contender Series Fight: 2023 (Week 10)
Old DW’s Contender Series Opponent: Torrez Finney (6-0 MMA)
Second DW’s Contender Series Fight: 2025 (Week 1)
New Opponent: Christopher Ewert (7-0)
First Contender Series Fight
Yuri Panferov first competed on the Contender Series back in 2023. Prior to that, Panferov had a flawless 6-0 record mostly competing under the Classic Entertainment & Sports banner or CES, a Rhode Island, US based promotion. Heading into DWCS, Yuri had finished every one of his opponents in the first round. All finishes were by way of submission except for one fighter, Brian Imes, who he TKO’d. Imes, Yuri’s fourth opponent was also his most experienced one, with a record of 8-12. The best record for a fighter he fought was 4-4.
First Contender Series Opponent
Yuri faced Torrez Finney in his first appearance on the Contender Serries. At a fight weight of 5’8″ and 185lbs., Finney is an absolute tank. The fight saw Torrez get the upper hand on the ground and submit Panferov in the second round. That performance ended up not being enough for Finney, as he didn’t receive a contract from Dana White following the finish.
Finney was invited back to the Contender Series the following year after quick finish on the regional circuit. Torrez succeeded in winning his redemption fight against Cam Rowson via unanimous decision. But yet again, the UFC president elected not to sign the undersized middleweight.
Finney received yet another shot at redemption on the same 2024 season of the Contender Series 6 weeks later. This time Finney smoked his opponent in 93 seconds finally receiving a UFC contract. Torrez has only fought one time with the promotion since receiving the contract on October 1. Finney won a split division against Robert Valentin in April and withdrew from a fight earlier this month. Valentin is 0-3 with the UFC but Torrez has already proved he’s a fighter that just can’t be counted out on paper.
So contrary to how it seemed two years ago, and potentially even a year ago, this is a loss that has aged very well for Yuri.
The Road Back
In the nearly two years since Yuri fought on the Contender Series, he has fought twice in MMA and had one pro grappling match. Yuri stopped one Rocky Edwards, who entered the fight with a 12-10-1 record, via punches in the second round. That fight was in February 2024- about four months after his first Contender Series appearance.
Yuri took on 11-6, Khadzhimurat Bestaev, in November and stopped his opponent in the third round via ground n’ pound.
Important note here is that Panferov really grinded out and hunted both of these finishes as both came in the final ten seconds of their respective rounds. He also faced some of the best competition he has in his career with two fighters with double digit wins as well as winning records.
Gameplan/New Opponent
For his shot a redemption on the Contender Series, Yuri will take on an undefeated 31-year-old fighter that has experience in Fury FC.
Christopher Ewert won multiple middleweight championships on the regional circuit after starting his MMA career in 2022. He’s got a first-round knee finish against 11-9 fighter, Matias Ibanez, last July. From there he stopped 5-2, Aj Chambers, in the first round with body shots at Fury FC 97 in October. And in January, he defeated another undefeated fighter in Reese Watkins who was 5-0, via unanimous decision. Ewert has already been tested and gone the distance twice in his career despite his 7-0 record and five first round finishes.
The UFC’s barren middleweight division actually came knocking in late June in the form of a matchup with Jackson McVey on the prelims of UFC 317. But unfortunately for Ewert, he had issues with his weight cut and was forced to withdraw.
But the message is clear, UFC brass believes Ewert is already of the caliber to belong in the promotion. Yuri has stepped his game up since his last appearance facing better competition and hunting finishes. A win here, all but guarantee a contract- finish or not, thanks to the state of the division.
