Nickal (1-0), who had a couple of amateur fights before turning pro, was set to join Danyelle Wolf and Greg Hardy as one of the least experienced fighters in DWCS history. Of course, both of those names made it to the UFC (Wolf is expected to debut later this year, while Hardy, in two appearances on the show, wound up with a developmental deal followed by a 10-fight stint in the UFC culminating in his release earlier this year).

Up against Nickal on Tuesday was Zachary Borrego — who threw a wrench in the works by missing weight for the fight.

Also featured on the latest episode of the Contender Series, Jamal Pogues was returning to the show. The Bellator MMA vet had first appeared on DWCS in 2019, winning his fight only to be denied a contract with the UFC.

Dana White’s Contender Series Season 6 Week 3 goes down live at the UFC Apex on Tuesday, August 9, 2022. The card airs on ESPN+ in the U.S., and UFC Fight Pass elsewhere. Full results can be found below.

The only fight to feature the ladies at DWCS 49 went the distance. Karolina Wojcik controlled the bulk of the fight with her grappling, bullying Sandra Lavado up against the cage. Not a whole lot of offense until the end of round three, with Wojczik threatening with a rear-naked choke but unable to finish.

The second fight of the evening saw flyweights Clayton Carpenter and Edgar Chairez go the distance, with Carpenter picking up the unanimous decision win. The first round saw Carpenter down, but he battled back from adversity to pick up the win.

The first finish of the evening saw Erik Silva get Anvar Boynazarov down early, then smash away with elbows and some heavy punches to seal the deal — almost certainly landing himself a UFC contract.

In his second appearance on the Contender Series, Jamal Pogues went the distance once again, winning a unanimous decision against Paulo Renato Jr.

Bo Nickal did exactly what was expected on Tuesday: he dominated Zachary Borrego, who missed weight for the middleweight fight. Nickal came out, got the fight down, locked on a guillotine, and when he couldn’t finish with that, took the back and sunk in a rear-naked choke to seal the deal. It all took little more than a minute.

Dana White’s Contender Series Season 6, Week Results

Middleweight: Bo Nickal def. Zachary Borrego by submission (rear-naked choke), Round 1, 1:02
Heavyweight: Jamal Pogues def. Paulo Renato Jr. by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Featherweight: Erik Silva def. Anvar Boynazarov by knockout, Round 1, 1:32
Flyweight: Clayton Carpenter def. Edgar Cháirez by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Women’s Strawweight: Karolina Wójcik def. Sandra Lavado by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Contract Winners: Clayton Carpenter, Erik Silva, Jamal Pogues. Bo Nickal will get a second fight on DWCS later this season.

The post Dana White’s Contender Series Season 6, Week 3 Results appeared first on Cageside Press.

A Contender Series fight 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 amount 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.

Jamal “The Stormtrooper” Pogues (8-3 MMA)

Age: 26 years old

Height: 6’3″/ Reach: 77″

Weight Class: Light Heavyweight (205lbs.)

First DW’s Contender Series Fight: 2019, Week 9

Old DW’s Contender Series Opponent: Marcos Brigagao (14-5 MMA)

Second DW’s Contender Series Fight: 2022, Week 3

New Opponent: Paulo Renato Jr. (10-1 MMA)

First DWCS Fight

Jamal Pouges and his opponent, Marcos Brigagao, began the co-main event in Week 9 in 2019 by swinging on the feet before Pouges was able to nicely time a few different takedowns on his opponent, taking the fight to the ground. However, Pouges was threatened with submissions several times while on the ground.  These threats often resulted in a scramble and the fighters returning to their feet.

In the second round both fighters again came out swinging, with Pouges seeming to get the better of the exchanges before scoring another well-timed takedown. Once Brigagao eventually worked back up to his feet, Pouges was again able to get the better of the exchanges and land some strong strikes.

In the final round, Pouges was again able to put his opponent on the ground. And though Jamal became visibly slower with his ground and pound, he was ultimately able to  hold down and dominate his opponent for the easy decision win (30-27 x3).

Even though Jamal Pogues got the unanimous decision win, at the end of the night, Dana White elected not to award him with a contract (likely because he didn’t get the finish).

Instead, Phillip Rowe received a contract for his third round stoppage over his opponent in the main event for the night. Steve Garcia and Mallory Martin, two other winners from Week 9 in 2019, would go on to get a fight in the UFC after just one more fight outside of the promotion.

First Contender Series Opponent

In Jamal’s first appearance on the Contender Series he took on Marcos Brigagao who entered the bout with a perfect 11-0 record. Prior to the bout, Brigagao had finished all 11 of his previous opponents.

But Brigagao had faced mostly lackluster competition early on in his career with the combined record of his opponents being 26-17, heading into Week 9 of DWCS 2019.

After the Contender Series fight, Brigagao has won three of his last seven fights and is on a three-fight losing skid. Obviously, Brigagao has stepped up his level of competition with his combined opponents record after facing Jamal being 66-22.

With those facts in mind, Jamal’s dominant 30-27 UD performance has aged very well. Though it is worth noting that Marcos has been finished three times since facing Jamal in 2019. 

The Road Back

Since Jamal’s appearance on DWCS in 2019 he has had a total of three scheduled bouts and has competed in two (with one cancellation).

Jamal first had a scheduled bout against then 3-0 Heath Jolley, before that fight was cancelled prior to the event.

Jamal Pogues fought then 5-0, Alex Polizzi, for the LFA vacant Light Heavyweight Championship in Febuary of 2020. However, Pouges would come up short, when he was submitted by heel hook in the fourth round. A solid all around showing for Jamal and good experience going past three rounds.

Pouges next took on Tim Hiley, who entered the bout with a 7-2 record. Jamal was able to pick up a unanimous decision win that night at LFA 91.

Gameplan/ New Opponent 

For Jamal’s second appearance on the Contender Series he will fight 10-1, Paulo Renato Jr.

Paulo Renato Jr. enters the fight with a 10-1 record with his former opponents combined record being 34-43.

Paulo has finished seven of his opponents by KO/TKO including three in the first round. And its obvious, that still while largely unproven in pro MMA competition, Paulo definitely has some nice kickboxing skills.

Jamal will be the Co-Main event for Week 3 of the 2022 season of the Contender Series in what has been a wild season so far. With wrestling phenom Bo Nickal headlining the card, there will undoubtedly be an increased number of eyes on Jamal Pouges as he looks for redemption and a statement finish against Paulo Renato Jr. 

The post Redemption: Second Chances on Dana White’s Contender Series — Jamal Pogues appeared first on Cageside Press.

With apologies to Bellator vet Jamal Pogues, GLORY kickboxer Anvar Boynazarov, and LFA standout Clayton Carpenter, all very good fighters in their own right, it was the 1-0 Bo Nickal that was bound to have fight fans tuning in.

1-0 fighters don’t generally demand that sort of attention; in years past, only boxer Danyelle Wolf and former NFL star Greg Hardy sported similar experience on DWCS. But Nickal was a decorated amateur wrestler, an NCAA champion who trained alongside the likes of Jorge Masvidal at American Top Team.

A three-time Division I NCAA champ and three-time Big 10 conference champ, Nickal’s wrestling pedigree was second to none — though he had proven in his brief career, which includes a couple of amateur fights, that he has heavy hands as well.

Weigh-ins for the latest instalment of Dana White’s Contender Series goes down Monday morning at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. Check below for results.

One fighter missed weight on Monday — Zachary Borrego, set to face Bo Nickal in the featured fight of the evening. A brief shoving match also broke out between strawweights Karolina Wojcik and Sandra Lavado.

Dana White’s Contender Series Season 6, Week 3 Weigh-In Results

Middleweight: Bo Nickal (186) vs. Zachary Borrego (187.5)*
Heavyweight: Jamal Pogues (248.5) vs. Paulo Renato Jr. (221)
Featherweight: Anvar Boynazarov (144) vs. Erik Silva (146)
Flyweight: Clayton Carpenter (125) vs. Edgar Cháirez (124.5)
Women’s Strawweight: Karolina Wójcik (115.5) vs. Sandra Lavado (116)

* Zachary Borrego missed weight by 1.5lbs for his middleweight bout against Bo Nickal

The post Dana White’s Contender Series Season 6, Week 3 Weigh-In Results appeared first on Cageside Press.

It was an event many in the aftermath were calling the best Contender Series show ever. Whether that stands the test of time remains to be seen, but with luck, it lit a fire under the fighters on week three’s card. That includes standout wrestler Bo Nickal, who at 1-0 is set to become one of the least experienced Contender Series fighters ever, alongside Greg Hardy and Danyelle Wolf.

Middleweight: Bo Nickal Vs. Zachary Borrego

Tale of the tape

Pros and Cons

Prediction: The attention is on the NCAA Division I wrestler Bo Nickal. No question.

Borrego on the other hand is an accomplished athlete as well. He was a Division II football player and was a silver medallist in the junior Olympics in taekwondo.

Saying that, this fight was obviously set up for Nickal. There isn’t a lot of footage on Nickal’s amateur fights but it’s nice seeing a wrestler knocking guys out. And with that said, Borrego isn’t hard to hit and has been knocked out before. I do see Nickal being able to land that left hand but wrestling is the clear path to victory. No matter how Nickal wins I think it’s important for Nickal to get a development deal and not a UFC contract.

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