The season finale Week 10 of Dana White’s Contender Series (2025) took place Tuesday in Las Vegas, and we’re grading the winners from the six-fight card, which streamed on ESPN+ from the UFC Apex.
With a simple but digestible format that has had the MMA fanbase responding, this series has shown to have legs in multiple ways while serving as a crockpot for contenders the UFC matchmakers can use to fill their roster for future events. With that trend in mind, I once again will be taking a look at the winning fighters, regardless of whether or not they won a UFC contract, and grading their performances in regard to their probability of returning to a UFC stage.
Wes Schultz
Summary: Kicking off the night was a quick fight in Mick Maynard’s beloved middleweight division.
Considering the A’s I’ve given out for other first-round finishes, there’s no way I was denying Wes Schultz one for hitting the elusive Suloev stretch.
Mario Mingaj did his best to create a scramble and try to get to Schultz’s back amid the chaos, but Schultz came out like a man possessed and didn’t allow Mingaj much to work with throughout the short fight.
I like Schultz’s instinct and creativity when it came to finding the finish, and I am happy he was awarded a contract on his second swing at bat in this series.
It sounds like deer hunting season in November is Schultz’s priority, so we probably won’t see him until early next year – hopefully against the likes of fellow weirdsmobile Jackson McVey.
Jovan Leka
Summary: Despite coming through as the lone underdog on the card, I had a hard time giving anything higher than D for what was ultimately a comical slopfest at heavyweight between Jovan Leka and Azamat Nuftillaev.
The first two frames were basically the MMA equivalent of cow tipping, with essentially one takedown deciding each round.
Leka and Nuftillaev took turns winking at the commentary table from top position, yet were too tired to compose themselves properly thereafter.
Although it was Leka who had the last laugh from topisde, his sheer inability to stay active and put away an undersized foe who was fully cooked is a bad look in my book.
Dana White thankfully agreed, which means we’ll have one less sloppy heavyweight for Mick Maynard to sneak onto a Fight Night main card (no offense to Leka, who is still young and can improve).
Michael Oliveira
Summary: Earning an emphatic A for his finish of Victor Valenzuela is Michael Oliveira.
Another member of my Prospects To Watch list (a column that continues to age well, mind you), Oliveira showed why I and many are so high on him.
From his composure and power to his ability to vary his jabs, Oliveira is a skilled striker who is clearly ready to test himself in the big show.
Valenzuela held on valiantly, but this fight was a beautiful showcase of the jab that spoke volumes.
Signing Oliveira was a no-brainer, and I suspect we’ll see him paired up with someone like Billy Ray Goff for his first assignment.
Marwan Rahiki
Summary: Although this fight could’ve easily been stopped in the first frame, I can’t deny anything short of an A to Marwan Rahiki for digging deep and coming back to get a stoppage win.
I don’t blame Ananias Mulumba for spending all his energy in the first, especially when you consider that he did enough damage to earn approximately three stoppages in just a single frame of fighting.
Thankfully for Rahiki’s sake, Mark Smith (who can be a bit manic with his trigger finger on stoppages) allowed that fight to go as long as it did.
Signing Rahiki was a no-brainer, but I was happy to hear Dana White acknowledge Mulumba’s efforts and hope that the African fighter gets consideration down the line.
As for Rahiki, well—I just hope that he isn’t booked for at least five months with the amount of head trauma the referee allowed him to sustain.
Juan Diaz
Summary: Although this was already an A-level fight with the technical trading that took place, Juan Diaz cements his grade and arrival with a stellar spinning back elbow.
As the great Rodney Mullen once said, “the best dudes around the world can be striving for one particular trick, and finally one guy does it – and the rest just come like lemmings.”
But big finishing moves aside, I really liked what I saw from Diaz, as well as his opponent, Won Il Kwon.
Kwon was doing better than commentary gave credit to in the first frame, landing sharp punches through and around Diaz’s guard.
Diaz, however, was able to respond in kind with different forms of counters, ultimately landing the more impactful shots.
You can argue that Diaz should’ve already been in the UFC, so it was no shock to see him signed in this series.
Although I’d love to see Diaz immediately paired up with a fellow prospect like Elijah Smith, he’ll probably face someone like Colby Thicknesse for his first UFC assignment.
Levi Rodrigues
Summary: Although I was not nearly as enthused as Dana White was, it was hard to deny Levi Rodrigues the obligatory A for understanding the assignment of the show by getting an early finish.
However, I would be remiss if I didn’t shout out Freddy Vidal and the raw deal I believe he got this season.
Vidal literally saved a show earlier this season by nearly killing himself via a 35-plus-pound weight cut en route to stepping up and winning a three-round war on short notice, only to be told to go right back into camp so that he can fight again five weeks later (against an undefeated prospect, no less).
And what was Vidal’s reward for basically a whole season’s worth of effort?
Well, aside from the concussion that Rodrigues gave him, he also had to witness Dana White callously say that he was ‘stinking up the place’ from cageside as he barely looked up from his paper to congratulate Rodrigues.
I’m sorry, but that just didn’t feel right.
Anyways, we got Rodrigues – another potential glass cannon to add to the rest of the ranks at light heavyweight.
I’m not shocked Rodrigues got signed, I just hope that they book him against someone who can test his grappling like Uran Saltibaldiev.
