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The latest episode of Contender Series featured a number of great performances and one unexpected twist.

On Tuesday night, the fifth episode of season eight of Contender Series took place in Las Vegas at the UFC APEX, and after four fights, UFC CEO Dana White awarded three UFC contracts.

However, the biggest story of the evening was that only four fights ended up taking place, instead of the planned five bouts. During the broadcast, the commentary team announced that the planned matchup between Quemuel Ottoni and Kody Steele would no longer take place as Ottoni unexpectedly withdrew from the event, leaving Steele without an opponent.

Steele will now wait to compete on a future episode of Contender Series this season, while the three fighters offered contracts will now make their way to the UFC.

Stirling ices Latu

In the main event of the evening, Navajo Stirling scored the most impressive finish in the evening, starching Phillip Latu with a left hook in the second round and punching his ticket to the UFC.

Fighting out of City Kickboxing, Stirling had plenty of expectations on him coming in and the undefeated prospect showed why, displaying a composure beyond his years and well-rounded skills early as Latu mixed things up with him. Then in the second round, Stirling landed a devastating hook during an exchange that sent Latu sprawling and earned him a glowing review from Dana White, who offered him a contract with the UFC.

Belgaroui scores late finish over Iwasaki

In the penultimate fight of the evening, Yousri Belgaroui turned it on when it mattered to score a third-round TKO victory over Taiga Iwasaki.

After falling short in Contender Series last year, Belgaroui was determined to do better this time around, but the former Glory Kickboxing title challenger had a more difficult time than expected against Iwasaki, who proved extremely game for much of the bout. However, after getting a point deducted in the second round for repeated eye pokes, Belgaroui came out more aggressive in the third round and finally landed a pair of big knees that hurt Iwasaki and brought about the end of the fight.

Unfortunately, the eye pokes and the tough start were not enough to impress Dana White who declined to offer Belgaroui a contract.

Musasa edges out Tanzilov

In the second fight of the evening, Josias Musasa had a hard-fought battle with Otar Tanzilov, doing enough to edge out a split decision and earn a shot in the UFC.

This battle of undefeated fighters was one of the most competitive of the evening as Musasa and Tanzilov went toe-to-toe for 15 full minutes of fast-paced action. Tanzilov scored a number of takedowns in the bout but each time Musasa simply stood back up and went right back to work with his pressure and boxing. In the end, two of the judges felt that was good enough to award him the win.

Caliari submits Laframboise

In the opening bout of the evening, Nicolle Caliari made quick work of Corinne Laframboise to earn her way into the UFC.

A former karate world champion, Caliari is best known for her striking skills, but it was her grappling that made the difference on Tuesday as Caliari came out and looked to use her wrestling right from the start, scoring takedowns on the Canadian fighter. Laframboise used this opportunity to get into grappling exchanges and ultimately got Caliari down but that’s when things went wrong for her as Caliari rolled up an armbar that got a first round submission and a UFC contract.

Check out the DWCS results below.

Navajo Stirling def. Phil Latu via knockout (punch) — Round 2, 2:21

Yousri Belgaroui def. Taiga Iwasaki via TKO (knee and punches) — Round 3, 2:34

Josias Musasa def. Otari Tanzilovi via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

Nicolle Caliari def. Corinne Laframboise via submission (armbar) — Round 1, 4:45

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UFC 306 is going to feature something very special for viewers and attendees.

This Saturday, UFC 306 — branded Riyadh Season Noche UFC — takes place at Sphere in Las Vegas, headlined by a bantamweight title fight between Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili. The UFC is promoting the card as “the greatest live sporting event of all-time” and so the promotion is pulling out all the stops to deliver on its grand promises.

Speaking with reporters after the most recent episode of Contender Series, UFC CEO Dana White revealed some of the details about this weekend’s event, including a lucrative “Easter egg hunt” for fans.

“There’s movies, there’s chapters,” White explained when asked about the production surrounding the event. “Each chapter starts before the next fight. So there will be a show open, then the first movie will run and it will end at the end of the fight. Then — we call them ‘worlds’ and the fight will live inside this world. And the world will evolve while the fights are going on, but it will be very subtle. Clouds will move, fires will burn, birds will fly, or whatever the hell is going on in that time, and it will slowly evolve during the fight.

“There are also going to be Easter eggs in each one of these films. We’re working it out with legal right now, but what I want to do, if somebody can find all the Easter eggs, I’ll give you $ 25,000.”

White confirmed that the planned Easter eggs will all be “related to the show” and added that this special scavenger hunt will only take place on the main card. The prelims will serve as a setup for the main card, and the entire show will move from “the beginning of time” and “end at the future,” all while keeping the spirit White intended from the outset: to be a love letter to Mexico.

“If you’re Mexican, this is a f*cking Rocky movie for you, man,” White said. “You’re going to come out of there, and if you’re not, you’re going to wish you were Mexican.”

And when it’s all said and done and the show is in the books, White hopes to have achieved more than just deliver a once in a lifetime experience for UFC fans.

“My goal in this thing is to be nominated for an Oscar, an Emmy, and a Grammy,” White said.

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Contender Series is not for the faint of heart.

An unprecedented event took place on the latest episode of season eight of Contender Series as on Tuesday, less than an hour before he was set to face Kody Steele in the penultimate fight of the evening, Quemuel Ottoni withdrew from the event.

The UFC broadcast team revealed that while getting his hands wrapped backstage, Ottoni simply decided he no longer wanted to compete and after speaking to UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby, took off his gloves and exited. UFC CEO Dana White spoke moments after the bout cancellation was revealed.

“That’s what this show is all about,” White said. “Sometimes you don’t have to actually get in the cage to realize, ‘This isn’t for me. I can’t handle the pressure. I don’t want to do this.’ This is what this is all about.”

MMA Fighting reached out to Ottoni for comment but received no response.

Ottoni was supposed to face Kody Steele, a highly-touted prospect and BJJ competitor, in a lightweight contest, and White further spoke and what this means for Steele.

“I think he’s part of the problem,” White said. “I think he’s part of why the kid pulled out. He will be paid in full tonight, his show and his win, and we will get him on another episode of Contender Series this weekend.”

Steele is currently undefeated in his MMA career at 6-0 and most recently competed this past April for Fury FC, scoring a third-round TKO.

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On the second episode of UFC 306 Embedded, bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley and his coach predict a knockout of Merab Dvalishvili, Daniel Zellhuber takes a few swings at the golf range, Brian Ortega sneaks in some Fortnite, Dvalishvili pushes himself in training, plus more.

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Merab Dvalishvili understands how the game works.

MMA is a sport that’s built on wins and losses almost as much as popularity and hype. Some fighters like UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley find fame quicker than most and those athletes get a bigger push from a promotion like the UFC while others have to work twice as hard to get noticed.

Put Dvalishvili into that latter category after he had to rattle off 10 wins in a row including three victories over former UFC champions to finally get his own chance at winning a title. He’s not bitter about the road he had to travel to get here but Dvalishvili knows it’s going to mean that much more when he finally puts that gold belt around his waist.

“I will be so proud,” Dvalishvili told MMA Fighting. “Because I know I don’t get nothing handed to me. I had to work for everything that I got and I will be very proud. I’m already proud of myself and I know and all the true MMA fans know. I’m here and fighting hard. I don’t have pressure or anything. It will be special for me. But first I have to win this fight.

“This is a tough challenge for me. Sean O’Malley is a good fighter and that’s why I always wanted to fight him. I want to win this fight and I want to be organic. I don’t want to overthink. I don’t want to be cocky. First I have to win this fight and after we can talk. One thing is for sure, I’m working hard and I’m very hungry.”

In the days and weeks leading up to the fight, Dvalishvili has displayed a lot of confidence that he’s going to become champion but he’s also acknowledged that O’Malley isn’t just going to roll over and play dead.

On the flipside, O’Malley has continuously promised that he’s going to deliver a first-round knockout and Dvalishvili says he’s heard over and over again how he’s going to get dispatched just like Aljamain Sterling.

O’Malley finished Sterling inside two rounds to win the UFC title but Dvalishvili reminds the always outspoken and colorful champion that as much as he values his friend and teammates, they’re not the same fighters.

“That’s their problem — they are too cocky,” Dvalishvili said. “Even Sean told me during the faceoff [at a promotional shoot for UFC 306], he told me ‘what’s going to be different between you and Aljo? I’m going to knock you out the same thing.’ First of all, you don’t knock Aljo out. Yes, you dropped him and Marc Goddard stopped the fight early. Second of all, every fight is different. If you fought Aljo 10 more times, I believe he will beat you nine times. Same thing with me.

“Don’t underestimate me. I’m a fighter. I’m here. Hard work got me here and you’ve got to show me respect. If you don’t show me respect, see what I did against Petr Yan? I’m going to do the same thing against Sean O’Malley. Same thing, [Yan] didn’t show me respect and I’m going to be rude. I’m going to make him humble. I don’t like these bully people. I don’t like these people who look over you. They look on top, they think they are better than you but we are the same. We’re fighters. Maybe I’m even better than him so we will find out soon.”

On paper the UFC 306 main event looks like the classic “striker versus grappler” matchup with O’Malley preferring to stay on his feet to deliver punches and Dvalishvili employing a high-paced wrestling based offense that suffocates his opponents.

But Dvalishvili believes deep down inside that his own striking arsenal is being vastly underrated by O’Malley and his camp heading into the fight. In fact, Dvalishvili made quite a bold prediction about how that’s going to come back to bite them.

“I want to knock Sean O’Malley out,” Dvalishvili declared. “I will knock him out. You guys will be surprised. Watch this fight and you guys will see. I know people think I’m a grappler. You guys will see. I’m going to show different skills. I’m going to knock him out. I’m going to outstrike him. You guys will see. I’m going to f*ck the shit out of him, too. You will see.”

Of course, Dvalishvili isn’t going to reveal his full strategy for the fight but he’s been working tirelessly to ensure he has a few new toys to play with come Saturday night and that includes “Mexican style” boxing to surprise O’Malley on the feet.

Maybe it’s just mental warfare to make O’Malley forget about the way Dvalishvili goes for takedowns like he’s mashing the same button over and over again in a game of Mortal Kombat.

Then again, Dvalishvili might just believe that O’Malley’s hubris really will come back to bite him.

“One thing is for sure, I’m working hard and I’m very hungry,” Dvalishvili said. “I’m going to surprise a lot of people. I’m telling you I’m looking for the knockout and don’t be surprised if I knock him out.”

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Demetrious Johnson won’t be fighting in MMA anymore and he didn’t fight the tears after announcing his retirement.

“Mighty Mouse” officially called it a wrap on his illustrious career this past Friday at ONE 168 in Denver, hanging up the gloves after 15 years as a pro, 11 UFC flyweight title defenses, and another title reign for ONE Championship.

The 38-year-old could hardly keep it together while delivering his retirement speech and the waterworks were flowing backstage, too. On Monday, Johnson released an all-access, behind-the-scenes look at his emotional farewell.

Watch the video below.

Following his in-cage moment, Johnson recorded an exclusive testimonial for his YouTube channel, and it wasn’t long before he was crying all over again.

“I didn’t think it was going to be that emotional, to be honest with you,” Johnson said. “I think it’s always good not preparing a speech because I feel when you prepare a speech, you focus on reading the words and getting your thoughts out. But I think when you speak from the heart and you feel the energy of the crowd, you see your wife, you see your kids, you see f*cking [coach Matt Hume], it’s just f*cking hard, you know?

“It’s not hard, it’s just a big chapter of my life that for so long I’ve dedicated to martial arts. I’m going to continue to do martial arts… a couple of guys that I talked to, Urijah Faber, he said, ‘There’s only a short amount of time you get to be a professional athlete and be able to compete at the highest level.’ It’s not that I can’t train anymore and I can’t fight and I can’t do it, but I feel there has to come a point in time when an athlete is like, when is enough enough? For me, I felt like it was that moment.”

Johnson composed himself and elaborated more on his reasons for retirement, but was soon in tears again after meeting up with his coach and longtime friend Matt Hume.

“He’s like a father to me,” Johnson said of Hume. “You’ve always been amazing. … You’ve just always been there, not as a coach, but as a father and mentor.”

“I feel like I am to you,” Hume said before embracing Johnson.

The retirement festivities started earlier in the night for Johnson as his family put together a tribute video, which included UFC stars Israel Adesanya, Sean O’Malley, and Aljamain Sterling, BKFC star Mike Perry, Bibiano Fernandes, Tyron Woodley, as well as Johnson’s loved ones and training partners.

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The year was 2015. Quemuel Ottoni was entering the Jungle Fight cage to face a man called Alex Pereira. “Poatan” was a talented kickboxer making his MMA debut, and Ottoni won via third-round submission after an exciting contest. Pereira would go on to eventually become two-division champion in GLORY and the UFC—a path that also changed Ottoni’s life.

Ottoni returned to Jungle Fight after traveling around his native Brazil — and a trip to Chechnya — and captured the welterweight title before signing with PFL. Injuries led to the cancellation of that deal and he now fights for a major opportunity Tuesday night, facing the undefeated Kody Steele at Dana White’s Contender Series at UFC APEX in Las Vegas.

Those big opportunities were definitely helped by the fact he tapped out a man that has become one of UFC’s biggest stars in 2024, but Ottoni says it also brought negatives.

“It has obviously helped me, but I don’t know if [that win] is good or bad,” Ottoni said in an interview with MMA Fighting. “The past two years were full of criticism, a lot of bad things came with it. It was good, of course, because it has given me this chance [at DWCS], but it has brought a ton of bad weight along with it.

“Alex has a lot of fans, and there are good and bad fans. They couldn’t see a highlight or any of that, a MMA website posting about me, that they tagged and attacked me. Or someone from my family would comment on my post and they would reply with prejudice. It’s not Poatan’s fault, but one of his fans attacked my brother with prejudice. And that has bothered me for years. I was very upset about it.”

“But I managed to get one of them,” he continued. “My mom commented on a photo I posted and this guy started to attack her. I was born on the East Zone [of Sao Paulo], brother, and we know a lot of people. I was not born a playboy, you know? Some people there said, ‘We’ll find the guy and talk to him face to face.’ He apologized, but a lot of it upset me. These past two years were a mix of emotions.”

Ottoni is now a lightweight, distant to Pereira by 50 pounds, but the UFC hopeful doesn’t expect that online hate to ever go away. Ottoni said there’s no ill will towards Pereira—nor friendship—but he’s working on being “more mature” on how he deals with fan interactions.

The dream of fighting on U.S. soil comes true Tuesday night in Las Vegas and Ottoni said he welcomed all challenges at DWCS — and the same for a possible UFC future, if he convinces Dana White to award him a deal with a victory.

“I never picked easy opponents,” said Ottoni, who won his past five fights on the Brazilian circuit. “The first opponent they gave me on the Contender was an 8-0 guy that was beating everybody up but he pulled out, and now they gave me [Steele]. I can’t choose. We’re going to the world’s biggest promotion and I can’t choose. I know a lot of people that picked fights in Brazil and made it to the UFC but couldn’t stay there. I know I’ll impress them with a win. If it’s a knockout or a submission… I know he’s a jiu-jitsu guy but I’ve fought grapplers before and caught them when they made mistakes. I know it’s a good fight and fans will love watching it.”

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Dana White is getting closer to pinning down a return date for Conor McGregor’s comeback.

Tuesday marks exactly 38 months since McGregor’s most recent fight, a loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in July 2021 that was made all the worse by “The Notorious” breaking his leg in the contest. The injury sidelined McGregor for an extended period of time and he hasn’t competed since, raising questions as to the state of his competitive future.

McGregor has filled his time starring in movies (including the 2024 hit Road House), as well as signing on for an executive position in the fast-rising BKFC promotion. He was scheduled to fight rival Michael Chandler at UFC 303 this past June, but withdrew from that date due to injury. As of now, UFC CEO Dana White is optimistic that his biggest box office draw will be back at the start of next year.

“Let me tell you this, I was the one this year saying I don’t think he’s going to fight this year, amid all the talk and everything else,” White told New York Post Sports. “Even the fight being set up in the press conference.

“Conor McGregor will fight next year, early 2025. He’s had so much time off, as far as the hunger, he’s a very wealthy guy. We’ll find out. We’ll find out when he comes back, but he is definitely one of the big superstars of the sport that elevated the UFC all throughout Europe and other parts of the world. He’s been a big star and a great partner for us.”

Should McGregor step back into the octagon as planned, he seeks his first win since a 40-second knockout of Donald Cerrone at UFC 246 in January 2020. Since that victory, he has suffered back-to-back losses to his longtime rival Poirier.

Despite the fighter frequently mentioning that he would like to fight in December, White has held firm that it’s unlikely we see McGregor return soon, and he told reporters this past August that the former two-division champion will not fight this year.

“We talked. We talked,” White said following the Aug. 13 episode of Dana White’s Contender Series. “We didn’t meet up but we talked, and yeah, he wants to fight. So we’ll figure it out.

“[But] not this year. He won’t fight this year.”

McGregor responded shortly after in a later-deleted tweet, writing, “Ah Dana, December is the date! Bring the calendar year home with a winning event! Come on now, what’s this? I am off to altitude next month to prepare. DECEMBER! Tell Dana and UFC WE WANT DECEMBER! WE DESERVE DECEMBER!”

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At her peak, Ronda Rousey was the only person on the UFC roster who could rival Conor McGregor in sheer popularity and attention but her rapid fall from grace almost matched her ascension to superstardom.

In less than a four-year span, Rousey helped usher women into the UFC. She became a six-time defending champion but then suffered a brutal knockout loss to Holly Holm and only made one more appearance getting blitzed by Amanda Nunes in 48 seconds before leaving the sport forever. While she did get inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame, Rousey rarely addressed her losses or her exit from the sport until more recently when she revealed that a severe history of concussions really left her no choice but to stop fighting.

Her complicated legacy left Rousey believing that if she attended a UFC event these days that she would face a hostile audience rather than fans waiting to greet her with open arms.

Kayla Harrison, who counted Rousey as a roommate and a teammate when both were competing in judo for the United States, understands that feelings are mixed when it comes to the former UFC bantamweight champion, but her impact on the sport is undeniable.

“I think for me, no matter who Ronda is as a person and no matter what she says or thinks or how she does things or how she handles losses, how she handles any of it, no matter what, you cannot deny the fact that she shattered a ceiling for women,” Harrison told MMA Fighting. “Dana White went on record multiple times saying that he would never have women in the UFC. She f*cking blasted right through that.

“To me, that’s her legacy. No matter what she says or what she does, of course humans are going to be humans, people deal with things the way they deal with things but she paved the way when there was no way. That I am eternally grateful [for].”

Long before she was conquering the PFL, and becoming a high-profile free agency addition to the UFC roster, Harrison looked up to Rousey as the gold standard when it came to her dreams of becoming an Olympic champion.

While she didn’t win gold, Rousey was the first American woman to win a medal in judo when she captured bronze at the 2008 games in Beijing, China. Four years later, Harrison surpassed Rousey by becoming the first American to ever win gold in judo and then she did it again at the 2016 Olympics.

Much like their shared history in judo, Harrison eventually followed in Rousey’s footsteps when it came to MMA as well.

“At one point, she was my role model and I lived with her, I trained with her,” Harrison said. “Anything she did, I wanted to do better. I didn’t know what the hell I was going to do after the Olympics. I didn’t know where I was going to go. She showed me this path and then she made that path really wide.”

Harrison can’t say for certain what would have happened in her post-Olympics career if Rousey hadn’t stormed into the UFC and became a massive draw for the company.

While women’s MMA existed long before Rousey arrived, her impact changed the game, especially where the UFC was involved.

That’s why Harrison still holds Rousey in such high regard regardless of how she retired or the way she handled herself on the way out.

“[Women’s MMA] went from like oh maybe you could make a little bit of money and maybe girls can fight, too, to like there are young girls all over the world right now that are training MMA and who are asskickers and who are not afraid to be big and strong and powerful and confident,” Harrison said. “Ronda is a part of that. That’s history. That’s powerful.

“That just goes to show it doesn’t matter who you are, you can do great things. Again, no matter how she deals with it, or what she says about it, the end of her career, she made a way when there wasn’t a way. That’s to me, her legacy.”

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Mikey Musumeci is no longer the ONE Championship flyweight grappling champion after missing weight for a match with Bebeto Oliveira on Friday’s ONE 168 event in Denver. Musumeci revealed Saturday he was hospitalized with pneumomediastinum.

Musumeci was originally slated to face Kade Ruotolo in a 170-pound contest, but Ruotolo announced his withdrawal less than a week before the show due to injury. ONE then announced that Musumeci would defend his flyweight title days later, cutting all the way down to 135 pounds.

Musumeci missed weight and failed his hydration test for ONE 168, and was stripped of the title.

“I have been in the hospital since early this morning,” Musumeci posted on social media Saturday. “I have pneumomediastinum, which means I had a tear in my lung Wednesday I believe when I was cutting weight doing Rickson [Gracie] diaphragm breathing — didn’t know this was possible — and air got into my chest and then into my neck. This is a life-threatening condition, and if I would have competed, I could have died the doctor told me. So first I was upset, now I’m full of gratitude to be alive and that I didn’t keep pushing. God protected me.”

ONE faced criticism for its decision to strip Musumeci for missing weight for a 135-pound match on days’ notice after preparing for a 170-pound contest, and ONE CEO Chatri Sityodtong released a statement to MMA Fighting revealing that it was Musumeci’s call to drop that weight after Ruotolo’s withdrawal.

“After recent events, we feel it is necessary to provide additional context on Mikey Musumeci’s withdrawal from the ONE 168: Denver card,” Sityodtong stated. “Mikey was obviously put in a difficult spot when Kade Ruotolo withdrew due to injury. When that happened, we worked closely with him and his team on a new opponent. Competing at flyweight was something he personally requested as he felt confident that he could make the hydrated limit of 135 pounds for a world title defense. This is not something we pushed him to do on short-notice or would ever demand of a ONE athlete given how much we prioritize fighter safety.

“After Mikey failed weight and hydration tests on Thursday, he requested an openweight submission grappling contest against Bebeto Oliveira, and we continued to work with him to try and keep him on the card. He ultimately felt it was in his best interest to withdraw from the contest, and we are honoring that.”

ONE Championship has yet to announce who will compete for the now vacant flyweight grappling title.

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