A full four fighters were getting second (or third) looks on the show on Tuesday night, with Julia Polastri, Eduardo Neves, Stephen Nguyen, and Malik Lewis all returning from previous seasons.

Polastri had come up short in 2021 against Jasmine Jasudavicius, a loss that has at least aged well given the Canadian is now 3-1 under the UFC banner, and facing Tracy Cortez in a high-profile flyweight bout in less than a week’s time.

Lewis, who lost to Trevor Peek previously on DWCS, was looking to show he had improved his cardio, while heavyweight Neves was booked into a fight with a dangerous striker in former GLORY kickboxer Jhonata Diniz.

Steven Nguyen, meanwhile, was getting his third opportunity on the Contender Series when he took on LFA alum AJ Cunningham. Nguyen was floored by a memorable Aalon Cruz flying knee in his first Contender Series showing in 2019, then returned in 2021 to defeat Theo Riayang. That decision win, however, was not enough to land him a UFC deal. On Tuesday, he was hoping to make a much bigger statement.

Dana White’s Contender Series Season 7, Week 6 kicks off at 8PM ET on ESPN+ in the U.S., and UFC Fight Pass elsewhere. Full results can be found below.

Week 6 kicked off with a bang as undefeated Jean Matsumoto and Kasey Tanner threw down in a technical back-and-forth. One of the best fights of the season, Matsumoto controlled with leg kicks, but Tanner was never really out of the fight, firing back and even pursuing a takedown late. Matsumoto would claim a decision win in the end, improving to 14-0, but it was enough to bring Dana White into the cage post-fight to pay his respects to both men.

Not to be outdone, Julia Polastri and Patricia Alujas put on a solid show, with Polastri getting the fight down and landing some heavy ground n’ pound before wrapping up a rear-naked choke in the second round.

An explosive ending to the opening round between featherweights Steven Nguyen and AJ Cunningham came as Nguyen hurt his opponent and went after the finish just ahead of the bell. Landing a series of punishing ground strikes, Nguyen was swinging away with a couple of shots almost certainly landing after the horn before the ref could step in. Not a finish, and the fight carried on to the second. Nguyen did put the fight away in round two, uncorking a series of combos that all hit the mark — and with Cunningham not defending, the ref stopped it on the feet.

The slug fest that many expected in Eduardo Neves vs. Jhonata Diniz very much played out, with Diniz lighting up the returning Brazilian on the feet before finishing things with a one-punch KO.

After a trio of finishes, the final fights of the evening saw lightweights Malik Lewis and James Llontop go the distance. Llontop was the clear winner of this one, collecting a pair of 10-8 scores from the judges.

Dana White’s Contender Series Season 7, Week 6 Results

Lightweight: James Llontop def. Malik Lewis by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-26)
Heavyweight: Jhonata Diniz def. Eduardo Neves by TKO (punch), Round 1, 3:15
Featherweight: Steven Nguyen def. A.J. Cunningham by TKO (strikes), Round 2, 4:06
Women’s Strawweight: Julia Polastri def. Patricia Alujas by submission (rear-naked choke), Round 2, 4:05
Bantamweight: Jean Matsumoto def. Kasey Tanner by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

Contract Winners: Jean Matsumoto, Julia Polastri, Steven Nguyen, Jhonata Diniz, James Llontop

The post Dana White’s Contender Series Season 7, Week 6 Results appeared first on Cageside Press.

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.

For this week, the 6th week of the Contender Series for 2023, the Redemption Series will be taking a look at multiple fighters including, Julia Polastri. 

Julia “The Dragon” Polastri (11-3 MMA)

Age: 25 years old

Height: 5’2″ / Reach: 63.5″

Weight Class: Strawweight (115lbs.)

First DW’s Contender Series Fight: 2021 (Week 3)

Old DW’s Contender Series Opponent: Jasmine Jasudavicius (9-2)

Second DW’s Contender Series Fight: 2023 (Week 6)

New Opponent: Patricia Alujas (9-2)

First Contender Series Fight 

Julia Polastri competed in her first fight on the Contender Series on Week 3 of the 2021 season.

Polastri, then just 23 years old, entered the fight with a stellar 8-2 record. Julia’s first defeat had come in her pro debut against now 6-2 fighter and Invicta FC bantamweight Monique Adriane.

Julia’s other loss came in 2018 against Valesca Machado, who would go on to win the Invicta FC Strawweight Tournament Championship towards the end of 2022. Machado also fought on the same season of the Contender Series as Julia, ultimately losing her fight and failing to acquire a UFC contract.

In Julia’s first Contender Series fight it was a tale of the takedown as she was completely dominated by Jasmine Jasudavicius on the ground.

There was an extreme size disadvantage for Polastri and it was difficult for her to stop the takedown throughout the fight. But on the feet, Julia was still tagging her opponent and even landed some nice head kicks throughout the bout.

After being completely smothered the first round Polastri went for broke in rounds two and three and continually walked down her opponent trading combinations with her much longer opponent.

First Contender Series Opponent

As was previously stated, Julia took on Jasmine Jasudavicius in her first Contender Series fight. Polastri gave up 5″ in height and 4.5″ in reach to her lengthy opponent.

Jasmine has fared exceptionally well in the UFC thus far amassing a 3-1 record.

Jasmine beat then 7-4 Kay Hansen in her UFC debut before stumbling and dropping her next bout against then 12-5-1 Natalia Silva.

Jasmine then defeated the 8-1 Gabriella Fernandes, before picking up her biggest win to date against Miranda Maverick back at UFC 289.

Julia’s loss to Jasmine has aged gracefully as Jasdavicious’ stock continues to rise with her taking on the surging Tracy Cortez at Noche UFC on September 16th.

The Road Back 

Since Julia’s first fight on the Contender Series nearly two years ago, she has competed three times.

First, after nearly a year layoff, Julia fought then 19-8-1 fighter Kalindra Faria under the Iron Man MMA promotional banner, a Brazilian promotion.  Faria, though nearly 36-years old at the time of fighting Julia, has fought some big names in the sport including UFC Veterans Jessica Aguilar and Karolina Kowalkiewicz. Kalindra also had canceled fights against former UFC Champion Valentina Shevchenko and UFC Vet Andrea Lee ahead of her own three fight stint in the UFC back in 2017-2018.

It’s safe to say Kalindra is a pretty experienced fighter and a great unanimous decision win for Polastri to add to her record.

A few months later in November of 2022, Julia took on Bianca Sattelmayer who entered the bout with a 7-11 record in the LFA. Though Bianaca sports a losing record she has competed against the likes of Zhang Weili back in 2017. Though Julia wasn’t able to finish her opponent in the first round like the current UFC strawweight champion, she was able to get her out of there in the third round via TKO.

And in her most recent fight, back in January, Julia took on undefeated, 6-0 fighter Brenda Gottig at LFA 151. Julia submitted her opponent via arm triangle choke in the opening round to win the vacant LFA Strawweight Championship.

Gameplan/ New Opponent 

This time on the Contender Series, Julia will be taking on 9-2 fighter Patricia Alujas.

Alujas stands at 5’4″ tall and will likely not have the massive reach advantage on Julia that her previous Contender Series opponent possessed.

The main question here will be just how good Patricia’s wrestling and takedowns are as Julia has solid stand up, whipping head kicks, power in her hands, good head movement and an educated clinch. And that was against a much larger opponent that has fared well in the UFC.

It is not hard to see why Polastri is getting another chance on the Contender Series with her solid record, only being 25 years old and the tenacious performance that she put on in her first Contender Series bout.

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Among those returning faces is Julia Polastri, who had fallen to Jasmine Jasudavicius in 2021. Since that date, Polastri has won three straight to earn herself another crack at the UFC.

Eduardo Neves and Steven Nguyen are also returning to Dana White’s Contender Series in Week 6 — and somewhat surprisingly, Nguyen has not fought at all since his last appearance on the show. Nguyen is fighting on DWCS for the third time, and is coming off a win that hadn’t earned him a UFC deal. But will the third time be the charm?

Plus, Malik Lewis returns after falling to Trevor Peek the first time around.

Read on for our predictions!

Featherweight: James Llontop Vs. Malik Lewis

Tale of the Tape

Pros and Cons

Who has the advantage?

Striking: Lewis
Speed: Lewis
Output/Volume: Llontop
Kickboxing: Llontop
Striking defense: Llontop
Footwork/movement: Lewis
Wrestling: Lewis
Grappling: Even
Gas tank: Llontop

Prediction: Lewis is getting another Contender Series opportunity after losing to Trevor Peek last season. He beat on Peek for four minutes and then gassed out badly and lost in round two. It was a bad look losing to Peek but more importantly his cardio looked lacking. He did get back on track with a win but his cardio was still shaky. From a technical standpoint, he’s solid but his endurance and durability are a big concern.

Llontop has looked fine but “looking fine” in the Peruvian scene may not be all that good. He started off 2-2 in his career and has now won eleven in a row. Llontop does a few things really well; His feints, kickboxing, and bodywork all are quality weapons to have.

This is another fight Lewis should win because he’s clearly the better fighter. His cardio is a big concern especially because Llontop fights at the same pace for three rounds. The good thing for Lewis is that Llontop doesn’t push a hard pace. Also, Llontop I would bet isn’t as tough as Peek. My pick is Lewis because he is the better fighter.

The post DWCS 2023: Episode 6 Breakdown and Predictions appeared first on Cageside Press.

All fighters booked for the card weighed in without issue, in orderly fashion after the weigh-in window kicked off a 9AM local time. Among those in action this week, the returning Julia Polastri, who lost to Canadian flyweight standout Jasmine Jasudavicius on the 2021 run of the Contender Series.

Polastri has put together three straight wins, her last two coming inside the distance, since that setback. The same was not the case for the returning Steven Nguyen, who has appeared on DWCS twice previously. Nguyen has not fought since turning up on the show for the second time in 2021, where he beat Theo Rlayang but failed to secure a UFC deal.

Rarely does a fighter get a third look on the Contender Series, so it’s clear the promotion has at least some interest in Nguyen.

Dana White’s Contender Series Season 7, Week 6 takes place Tuesday night at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Full results from Monday’s weigh-in can be found below.

Dana White’s Contender Series Season 7, Week 6 Weigh-In Results

Malik Lewis (156) vs. James Llontop (156)
Eduardo Neves (263.5) vs. Jhonata Diniz (254)
A.J. Cunningham (145) vs. Steven Nguyen (145)
Patricia Alujas (115) vs. Julia Polastri (115.5)
Jean Matsumoto (136) vs. Kasey Tanner (135.5)

The post All Fighters Make Weight for Dana White’s Contender Series Season 7, Week 6 appeared first on Cageside Press.