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.
Chasen Blair (7-3 MMA)
Age: 26 years old
Height: 5’10″ / Reach: 71″
Weight Class: Lightweight (155lbs.)
First DW’s Contender Series Fight: 2024 (Week 9)
Old DW’s Contender Series Opponent: Kody Steele (7-1 MMA)
Second DW’s Contender Series Fight: 2025 (Week 5)
New Opponent: Samuel Sanches (10-1 MMA)
First Contender Series Fight
Chasen Blair first competed on the Contender Series on October 8 of last year towards the end of the season. Blair was an eight-fight veteran of Cage Warriors, an England-based regional MMA promotion. Blair went 6-2 with the promotion from his debut in April of 2022 to September 2024.
During that span, Blair only faced one opponent that didn’t have a winning record.
Chasen lost his second fight to a then 2-0 Jeffery Craig via split decision, and was submitted via kneebar by a then 9-3 Ahmad Hassanzada in late 2023. Hassanzada and Florin Pirtea are Chasen’s two best pro wins to date. Thanks to Blair’s first round triangle choke submission over then 8-2, Pirtea, he secured his first appearance on the Contender Series less than a month later.
It’s worth noting that Ahmad Hassanzada was on his very own Contender Series redemption path, as when he fought Blair he was in between his first appearance on the show (August 2022) and his second appearance (September 2024). Ahmad went on to submit his opponent on his second Contender Series appearance. Hassanzada won a contract and has yet to compete but has had a fight canceled. Hassanzada is now 12-3.
First Contender Series Opponent
In his first Contender Series fight, Chasen Blair took on Kody Steele. The then undefeated, 6-0, Kody Steele scored a brutal body shot KO towards the end of the second round. The violent finish earned Kody a UFC contract.
Since then, Kody has had one fight booked and competed as many times. Steele’s UFC debut came exactly four months after his Contender Series fight against a 25-6, Rongzhu. That fight was on the preliminaries of UFC 312. The scrap ended up being a barn burner, and even though Steele lost a unanimous decision, he and his opponent earned Fight of the Night honors.
With that in mind, (as well as the fact that Rongzhu is a .500 UFC fighter at 3-3) Kody is a win that has aged okay for Blair.
The Road Back
Since Chasen’s defeat to Steele last October, the California-born fighter has competed one time. Blair went back to his old stomping grounds within Cage Warriors and drew a 5-1 opponent in Diego Visanzay back in April. Blair made quick work of Diego, securing a rear naked choke just three minutes into the fight.
That singular effort was enough to punch Blair’s ticket for a return trip to the UFC Apex for his shot at redemption on the Contender Series.
Gameplan/New Opponent
Chasen will be attempting to secure a UFC contract for a second time against the first opponent that he’s faced with double digit wins in his MMA career, Samuel Sanches. Samuel is entering this fight with a 10-1 record and is a 4-fight veteran of Demo Fight, a regional MMA promotion based out of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.
Samuel’s record should be taken with a grain of salt however, as he has just two victories against opponents with winning records.
Samuel’s two best wins are against a then 10-6, Bruno Justo, in January of 2024 and then 17-5, Evaldo Santos, back in March. The fight against Justo was for the Demo Fight Vacant lightweight championship. Sanches stopped Justo early in the second round to win the belt. In his most recent fight, Sanches took less than 60 seconds to steam roll Santos and securing a CS appearance.
Blair’s easiest path to victory is to take it to the ground. Samuel is powerful but he’s faced some questionable opponents on the regional scene. He’s overpowered a lot of fighters. Should be a good matchup.
