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.

Alik Lorenz (7-2 MMA)

Age: 29 years old

Height: 6’2″ / Reach: 77.5″

Weight Class: Light heavyweight (205lbs.)

First DW’s Contender Series Fight: 2025 (Week 3)

Old DW’s Contender Series Opponent: Abdul Rakhman Yakhyaev (9-0 MMA)

Second DW’s Contender Series Fight: 2026 (Week 2)

New Opponent: Mahamed Aly (5-1 MMA)

 

First Contender Series Fight

Alik Lorenz entered his first Contender Series fight as a four-fight veteran of the LFA promotion. Alik had never heard the final bell and stopped all but one of his opponents in the first round. Alik’s only loss in MMA was against Darion Abbey in his second fight. And Abbey went on to fight on the exact same Contender Series card as Lorenz last year (he was finished in the first round).

Lorenz was melted in thirty seconds in his first appearance on the Contender Series. His opponent proved to just be too much, and an onslaught of punches and a well-placed knee sealed the deal for Lorenz on that night.

First Contender Series Opponent

Alik Lorenz faced Abdul Rakhman Yakhyaev in his first Contender Series appearance. Of course, Abdul received a contract for his finish over Alik.

Just three months later, in November of 2025, Abdul made his promotional debut against a then 11-3, Raffael Cerqueira. The fight lasted a little over 30 seconds before Abdul secured a rear naked choke.

A little over four months later, back in April, Abdul took on Brendson Ribeiro for his first promotional appearance on a main card. Ribeiro lasted nearly three minutes but ultimately was submitted with a rear naked choke.

Most recently, Abdul took just eight seconds to drop and stop Julius Walker back in late June. That finish earned him a performance bonus and a huge step up in competition and visibility.

Abdul currently has a bout booked against Nikita Krylov on the prelims of UFC 333. Krylov is 12-10 within the UFC, recently ranked and coming off a loss to a former UFC middleweight champion in (#11) Robert Whittaker. A huge step up.

Alik’s loss has aged incredibly well as Abdul is within one win from drawing a ranked fight.

The Road Back

Since August 26th of 2025 Alik has had just one pro MMA fight. This fight came back in March when he took on Gabriel Thimoteo on LFA 228. The 5-6 fighter was no match for Alik who stopped him in under 30 seconds with a right hook and ground n’ pound. Gabriel has a loss on his record against Tuco Tokkos who is 1-3 with the UFC.

This result along with how well his former opponent is doing within the UFC was enough to birth a second opportunity on the Contender Series for Alik.

Gameplan/New Opponent

For his shot at redemption on the Contender Series, Alik Lorenz will be taking on Mahamed Aly. Mahamed is also a fighter that is seeking redemption and shares a lot of similarities with Alik.

This fight is guaranteed to produce a contract as both of these guys were defeated by essentially ranked caliber opponents. Not to mention, light heavyweight is one of the shallowest divisions within the UFC. Hopefully both men let their weapons free and give the fans a good show.