After picking up a submission win on the last season of Dana White’s Contender Series, Torrez Finney was told by the UFC boss to go back to the regional scene to pick up some more experience before returning this year.
Torrez Finney then went on to pick up just one more win on the regional scene before being offered another opportunity on Dana White’s Contender Series this season but after picking up a decision win, he wasn’t given a contract.
Dana White expressed his disappointment with Finney that he didn’t go and fight multiple times when he was told by White to go and get some more experience, and he brutally told him he would get ‘absolutely decimated’ in the UFC.
Torrez Finney finally earns UFC contract after third DWCS win
Despite White’s brutal honesty with Finney, the UFC brass decided to give him another opportunity on the Contender Series, giving him a third fight.
‘The Punisher’ was matched up with Spanish fighter, Abdellah Er-Ramy, and in impressive fashion, Finney showed a different side to his game this time round, finishing Er-Ramy in the first round.
“My boy, Torrez. Now, listen to me, kid, you, Uncle Snoop, Aunt Didi, Coach Larry, Mom, and Dad, none of you can disagree with me, you brought a different energy tonight than you did the last two fights, that’s how you do it, get over here, welcome to the UFC,” White told Finney following the show.
The 25-year-old will be the latest undefeated fighter to come through the Contender Series and will enter a deep middleweight division in the UFC.
Dana White talks about previous comments towards Torrez Finney
Although DWCS has become a breeding ground for new UFC talent, Finney’s path clearly wasn’t as easy as some of the others before him.
“The way that I try to set my mind when I come into this thing, there’s no bias… When a guy comes in for the third time, I lean more on the side of respect, the fact he’s coming back and saying I need to prove myself again.
“I went through his whole family and him, you can’t deny that kid showed up with a completely different energy tonight. Not just fighting, just his whole attitude and personality were completely different tonight,” White continued at the post-fight press conference.
Of course, White’s previous comments to Finney regarding his chances in the UFC were brought up, and the UFC boss stated that ‘we’re gonna find out’ whether the 25-year-old will get ‘decimated’ in the UFC or not.
“That’s what we’re gonna find out. I told him, ‘You did not impress me, I think you’d get destroyed in this division over here’, and he went back and, you know, he came back and handled business,” the UFC boss stated.