Las Vegas, NV — Facing Harvey Park in the main event of week seven of this year’s Contender Series, Omar Morales secured a second-round knockout to maintain his perfect record on Tuesday. The performance, which moved him to 8-0 as a pro, also earned him a UFC deal, one of three winners on the night.

Morales was a little worse for the wear after the fight, injuring his foot on a kick. That’s nothing compared to the leg injury sustained by opponent Park, which left him an easy target Tuesday.

“I knew this with the first kick I landed, that I hurt my opponent,” Morales said via translator back stage at the UFC Apex following the fight, speaking to reporters including Cageside Press. “But that wasn’t the main objective. Studying tapes, I [saw] that my opponent didn’t have any footwork. He was heavy on his feet, heavy planting, so it made an easy target for me to go for that front leg.”

“Once I hurt him,” Morales continued, “I went back for the second round, before it started. I was just listening to my corner. My corner told me that I had hurt him. So I just followed my instructions, I followed my commands, and ended up with the W.”

That came barely over a minute into the second. Park was backed up against the cage, unable to avoid the oncoming attack.

The low kick is something that seemed to take the wind out of Park’s sails. “I acknowledged that he was badly hurt, and I told myself this is it, this is the moment,” Morales said. But he doesn’t feel it was entirely the low kick that sealed the deal. “It was a build-up. Before that big low kick, I was able to connect with many punches. It wasn’t visible to the crowd, his reaction, but I for sure felt I hurt him with my punches as well.”

In any case, the win is a dream come true for Morales. “It was a long road, my advice is for all of you guys who have a dream to achieve, just go for it, believe in yourself, and once you reach that goal, you’ll feel just like me,” he said. “There’s no way to describe it.”

Once that indescribable feeling wears off, Morales will get back to the cage. “I would love to fight in Latin America,” he said of his potential debut spot. No doubt, as the Morales is one of just a few fighters from nearby Venezuela to make it to the UFC. “I have many followers, many people supporting me. But when it comes to fighting, I can fight anywhere, anyplace, as long as my physical health allows me to.”

Watch the full Contender Series press scrum with Omar Morales above!

The post DWCS Week 7: Omar Morales Looking to Fight in Latin America in UFC Debut appeared first on Cageside Press.

Las Vegas, NV — A year ago, Brazilian middleweight Andre Muniz earned a unanimous decision win on Dana White’s Contender Series Brazil. It wasn’t enough to earn him a UFC contract, however. Luckily, the English-language version of the series opted to add some international flavor this year, and Muniz was back for a second look Tuesday, opposite Taylor Johnson.

This time, Muniz secured a rear-naked choke to earn a first round finish. And with it, a UFC contract.

“I’m so emotional. I put my whole life, a lot of work, a lot of sacrifice,” Muniz told media outlets including Cageside Press following the fight. “The fight was crazy, he came crazy. But I managed to connect [with] good hands. He felt it. When we went to the ground, I knew I was going to finish somehow, and that’s what I managed to do.”

It was the end of an emotional roller coaster for Muniz, who improved to 18-4 with the win. “I felt a lot of pressure coming into this fight. It was my second chance,” he admitted. “I knew I probably wouldn’t have a third chance. So I came to the fight looking for the KO, looking for the finish. The fight was crazy, but I managed to finish and secure my UFC contract, and I’m so happy.”

The latest addition to the UFC roster now wants to get back to work. “I’m a new guy in the UFC, I’m happy to be here, but I want to fight soon. If it was in Brazil — I’ll fight where ever they send me to, but I want to fight in Brazil, definitely.”

Watch the full Contender Series Season 3, Week 7 press scrum with Andre Muniz above!

The post DWCS Winner Andre Muniz Knew Tuesday Was His Second, and Probably Last, Chance at UFC Deal appeared first on Cageside Press.

Las Vegas, NV — With a submission victory over Darrick Minner in the very first round on this week’s edition of Dana White’s Contender Series, Herbert Burns ensured that he’d be part of the next sibling duo in the UFC.

Brother Gilbert, after all, has already found success in the octagon. With Herbert joining the party, the pair are now among the likes of the Nogueira brothers, Miller brothers, and Diaz brothers. And let’s not forget the Shevchenko sisters.

“I feel amazing now. Finally the world’s coming off my shoulders, after the fight. I got the finish, but you never know, you still have doubts in your head,” Burns said after the fight.

Burns hadn’t spoken to his brother when he fielded questions from reporters including Cageside Press backstage at the UFC Apex. “Not yet. My phone is dying.” Someone get the man a spare charger.

“It was a lot of sacrifice for me. It was my whole life,” he said of the effort getting to this point. That included time away from his daughter. “Everything I did was for her. We made it.”

“The Burns brothers. It’s a family business now,” he added. Soon enough, it will be.

On the fight itself, he recognized the threat Minner posed early. “He came swinging crazy, I expected nothing different from him.” And while some people may have batted an eye when he pulled guard, “I know my ground, I know my jiu-jitsu’s another level from most people on the roster,” said Burns.

“I knew he has a good guillotine, I tried the triangle before, he couldn’t posture up,” he recalled. “I’m like, ‘I know, I know what his defense is, next time if he try.’ When he tried the guillotine, I moved, I saw he was just going to throw the elbow, got the triangle, and finished with the arm-bar.”

“Everything worked out in the end,” he added. Later, he reiterated the danger Minner posed out of the gate. “I knew, in the first round of his fights, he comes super strong, he comes wild. I knew that was his strength.”

So Burns anticipated “this guy would come crazy swinging. So I’m like ‘I’ll throw the knees.’ He kind of felt one of the knees. I knew he was too crazy, I was like ‘I don’t want to deal with this craziness.’ Just pulled guard, worked my jiu-jitsu. He tried ground n’ pound. One elbow landed on my head, the other one I managed to prevent. He missed most of that.”

The finish, however, was just a matter of time in Burns’ eyes. Now, it’s on to the UFC.

Watch the full Contender Series press scrum with Herbert Burns above!

The post Contender Series Winner Herbert Burns: It’s a Family Business Now appeared first on Cageside Press.

Las Vegas, NV — Following the seventh installment of this year’s Contender Series, Dana White was not a happy man. He was critical of the judges, in a couple of fights, including the Lucrezia Ria vs. Marilla Santos split decision.

He was also still livid with the Cris Cyborg situation, when the subject was brought up by reporters. In fact, talk of Cyborg made up the bulk of White’s post-fight press scrum Tuesday, which had Cageside Press and other outlets in attendance.

“Dealing with her has been a nightmare the entire time she’s been here,” White said in regards to the former UFC women’s featherweight champ, who recently fought out her contract with the promotion. “And I said the other day in the interview with Laura [Sanko], there was a lot of controversy bringing her in in the first place, at that time. And, when I did the interview with Laura, we really didn’t mention the whole, her lying on the video about what I said. [Her] Production Team lying about what I said on the video.”

The video in question was released by Cyborg’s team, showing a confrontation between her and the UFC President, following UFC 240 in Edmonton. However, White was misquoted in the edited video, something Cyborg subsequently apologized for.

“It’s been a bad experience dealing with Cyborg from day one,” White said. “We brought her in after she tested positive for steroids, and got done with that. We made her a clean athlete, with the best drug testing policy in all of sports, the entire time she was here.”

Tackling her comments from UFC 240 about her promoter damaging her brand, White added that “when she talks about her legacy and her brand, nothing’s better than knowing she’s a clean athlete after testing positive for steroids and all the negativity that surrounded her about being a dirty athlete. We bring her in, do all this stuff, and she was just never happy. Never happy, complaining about everything, she was a nightmare to deal with, and at the end of the day, she knows, I know, Amanda Nunes knows, I tried to make that Nunes fight.”

That has been the other point of contention between White and Cyborg. Cyborg asked for a rematch with Nunes after losing the featherweight title to her last December. White has claimed he tried to make the fight, but that Cyborg turned it down. Which ever side you choose to believe, White is sticking to his guns. “She doesn’t want it. She doesn’t want it, she gets mad when I say I don’t blame her, I don’t blame her! Because if that was Amanda Nunes last Saturday, I think everybody can agree what would have happened in that fight.”

Last Saturday, former Invicta FC champ Felicia Spencer gave Cyborg a very tough test — although the Brazilian took home a unanimous decision win.

“She’s unhappy, we’re unhappy, she lies and does that thing, see you later. Have a nice life,” White finished. For the moment.

The subject of the doctored video, however, was clearly still under White’s skin. “Whether you like me or you don’t like me, whatever your opinion of me is doesn’t matter, what she did was dirty,” he exlaimed. “Dirty, what she did with the video and all this other stuff.”

“Meanwhile she’s running around saying she’d better get an apology from me? Yeah. I got an apology from her. Because what she did is one of the dirtiest things.” And White believes the apology from Cyborg did not come lightly. “It had to kill her to apologize to me. Kill her to do it. But what she did is one of the dirtiest things you can do to somebody. That’s why she apologized.”

White, in the past, had suggested he’d make the Cyborg-Nunes fight on a one-fight deal for Cyborg. Of course, that would come with a champion’s clause, meaning if Cyborg won, she’d remain contracted to the UFC. However, Tuesday, White claimed that even on a one-fight deal, it wouldn’t happen. “She doesn’t want to fight Amanda Nunes. You guys and the fans need to get it into your head, that she did everything she could, including doctoring a video, lying about what I said, to avoid fighting Amnada Nunes. The fans, and the media, need to get it through your heads that all that sh*t that was going on, ‘oh he was bullying me!’ — bullying you? You’ve been here for five years, what are you talking about? You’re talking about stuff that happened five years ago. That was five years ago. It was all a smokescreen to not fight Amanda Nunes. She doesn’t want that fight.”

Never mind Cyborg parading around in t-shirts promoting a second fight with Nunes. Apparently a smoke screen as well, although White didn’t touch on that. What he did touch on was his history of chilly relations with talent. “I’ve had problems over the last twenty years with plenty of fighters. From Tito Ortiz to Mark Hunt, to God knows who else.” The difference is, said White, that in other cases, “we always made fights.” Not so with Cris Cyborg. “She doesn’t want to fight Amanda Nunes.”

As to the future of the 145lb division, something White had committed to just a week or so ago, it’s still in the cards. “Amanda’s going to defend both titles just like she always did. Cyborg leaving doesn’t matter. We know who the best fighter in the world at 135 and 145 is. It’s Amanda Nunes.’ Former champ Cyborg, said White, “had the opportunity for her legacy, Cyborg’s legacy, to get that fight again. She doesn’t want it. So we’re going to continue to bring in the best fighters in the world and put them up against Amanda Nunes at 135 and 145lbs, and she will continue to build her legacy.”

Asked if he had any regrets in how he’d dealt with his now-former star, White said he did not. “The one thing I’m glad I did, is I pushed her to make sure she fought Amanda Nunes. Because she didn’t want that fight the first time, let alone the second time.” Instead, she wanted “Cindy Dandois, or Pam Sorenson. Those were the fights she wanted, and she turned down Amanda Nunes. And I said that’s not going to happen. So we kept pushing and pushing and pushing, and finally we got her to take the Amanda Nunes fight. I’m happy that I did that, other than that I wouldn’t change one thing in the last five years with Cyborg.”

For those who want to call White’s bluff, “if I’m lying, she can call tomorrow, and we’ll make that fight,” he claimed. “She will not call tomorrow, and that fight will not be made, because she does not want to fight Amanda Nunes.”

“The fact is, all of this was said and done to avoid fighting Amanda Nunes, and so she could walk away and look like ‘aww, they bullied me,’ and this and that,” the UFC President added. “Doctoring the video that they doctored, and lying, and all the things they’ve done leading up to here.”

“Cyborg likes to play that she’s this really nice person, and she’s being bullied, and all this other bullsh*t,” he finished. Although he would clarify one point:

“I don’t think [Cyborg]’s afraid to fight Amanda Nunes,” White stated. “She doesn’t want to lose again. There’s a difference between being afraid to fight somebody [and being afraid to lose]. Cyborg’s been fighting her whole adult life.”

“I’m not saying she’s afraid to fight. Being afraid to fight, and knowing that you’re going to lose, are two different things.”

In case you missed it, through all the Cyborg talk, there was an episode of the Contender Series Tuesday. Three contracts were awarded, to Omar Morales, Herbert Burns, and Andre Muniz. White was also receptive to the idea of fighters facing off after weigh-ins, something not currently done for the show.

“Sure. Sure we can do that. Done. Next week,” White said. “All this stuff here is sort of a work in progress.” There was also an update on The Ultimate Fighter. “We’re looking for where this thing ends up. In a perfect world, I want The Ultimate Fighter back on FX. In a perfect world, that would be awesome. Because FX is incredible.”

FX is owned by Walt Disney Co., parent company of ESPN, the UFC’s current home. So the possibility is not entirely off the table.

The post Dana White: If I’m Lying About Cyborg, She Can Call Tomorrow, And We’ll Make Nunes Fight appeared first on Cageside Press.

Valentina and Antonina Shevchenko. Jim and Dan Miller. Nick and Nate Diaz. Minotauro and Minotouro. Siblings gracing the octagon are a rare occurrence, but Herbert Burns had a chance to join brother Gilbert in the UFC with a strong showing at week seven of Dana White’s Contender Series Season 3.

Featherweight Burns was set to be taking on Darrick Minner, and when it comes to quality of competition, he had the edge. Burns (8-2) spent a good chunk of his career with ONE Championship, where he earned wins over Edward Kelly, ex-champ Honorio Banario, and Timofey Nastyukhin, who knocked out former UFC champ Eddie Alvarez earlier this year.

Opponent Darrick Minner boasted far more fights on his record, mind you. At 22-9, he’d certainly put in the time.

Also on the card, Lucrezia Ria, an Italian fighter matched up with Brazil’s Marilia Santos. And in the main event, Omar Morales would take on recently crowned LFA lightweight champ Harvey Park.

Check back come fight time, 8PM ET, for full results from this week’s Contender Series outing. For a closer look at tonight’s fights, check out our full breakdown and preview article.

Dana White’s Contender Series Season 3, Week 7 Results

Lightweight: Omar Morales (@omarmoralesjr) vs. Harvey Park (@harveyparkmma)

Omar Morales def. Harvey Park via TKO (Strikes) at 1:06 of Round Two

Women’s Flyweight: Lucrezia Ria (@lucrezia_ria) vs. Marilia Santos (@mariliachocolate)

Lucrezia Ria def. Marilia Santos via Split Decision at the end of Round Three

Featherweight: Herbert Burns (@herbertburnsmma) vs. Darrick Minner (@darrickminner)

Herbert Burns def. Darrick Minner via Submission (Armbar) at 2:29 of Round One

Middleweight: Taylor Johnson (@tombstonemma) vs. Andre Muniz (@andremunizsergipano)

Andre Muniz def. Taylor Johnson via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 1:46 of Round One

Bantamweight: Dwight Joseph (@dwightjtjoseph) vs. Jay Perrin (@savage_perrin23)

Dwight Joseph def. Jay Perrin via Unanimous Decision (29-28 x 3) at the end of Round Three

Contract Winners: Omar Morales, Herbert Burns, Andre Muniz

The post Dana White’s Contender Series Season 3, Week 7 Results appeared first on Cageside Press.

The Contender Series returns this week, with a lightweight showdown in the main event. Week seven will see Omar Morales take on Harvey Park atop the card. Morales, an undefeated Venezuelan at 7-0, last competed for Bellator MMA roughly a year ago. He’ll return against Park (12-2), an American who just won the vacant LFA 155lb title in April.

Also on the card, women’s flyweight action between Lucrezia Ria and Marilia Santos. At 10-2, Brazil’s Santos has had both losses to fighters currently in the UFC, including Weili Zhang, the next woman to challenge for the UFC strawweight championship. Ria, meanwhile, is an Italian who has won five straight coming into Dana White’s Contender Series this week. Of her two losses, one came in her first career fight, against current UFC athlete Mara Romero Borella.

Check below for full results from this morning’s weigh-in. You can watch a video of the proceedings above!

Dana White’s Contender Series Season 3, Week 7 Weigh-In Results

Lightweight: Omar Morales (155.5) vs. Harvey Park (155.5)
Women’s Flyweight: Lucrezia Ria (124.5) vs. Marilia Santos (124.5)
Featherweight: Herbert Burns (145.5) vs. Darrick Minner (146)
Middleweight: Taylor Johnson (185.5) vs. Andre Muniz (185.5)
Bantamweight: Dwight Joseph (135) vs. Jay Perrin (136)

The post Dana White’s Contender Series Season 3, Week 7 Weigh-In Results & Video appeared first on Cageside Press.