The fifth episode of Dana White’s Contender Series brought something unprecedented, with two fighters from one bout both earning UFC deals from Dana White.
More UFC contracts were handed out this week, following three first-round knockouts last Tuesday that won fighters their own deals.
Dana White was there watching over the fights, despite preparing to promote the Canelo Alvarez vs Terence Crawford fight in his first foray into boxing promotion.
With his mind potentially elsewhere, the hopefuls had to work extra hard to impress the boss, and they did just that in an exciting episode of Dana White’s Contender Series.
Steven Asplund landed a 16-second knockout to earn him a UFC contract
The six-foot-five Heavyweight behemoth, Steven Asplund, put his incredible size to good use as he dominated Anthony Guarascio in the main event of the show.
“Concrete” took just 12 seconds to floor his opponent with a brutal left uppercut, before winning via TKO with a ground-and-pound after just 16 seconds.
He won his contract with the third-fastest KO in Dana White’s Contender Series history, and bizarrely offered to “suck your toes, Dana” after the fight.
Cam Teague was floored in under a minute as Lerryan Douglas picked up a huge win
Despite being one of the brightest stars coming into his week’s episode, Cam Teague suffered another defeat in front of Dana White in a huge blow to his UFC chances.
After losing to Kevin Vallejos on last year’s Contender Series, Teague knew that this may be his last chance to impress, but he failed to do so last night.
That is because he was finished in just 36, being brutally put to sleep by Lerryan Douglas with a thunderous left hand that knocked him unconscious before his head even hit the mat.
Douglas earned a contract with his dominating performance, while Teague’s future in the UFC looks bleak.
Freddy Vidal’s submission was not enough for Dana White
The only person to win their fight and not earn a contract this week was Freddy Vidal.
The PE teacher is only 11 months into his career, but he wowed the fans with a second-round submission victory that came out of nowhere against Felipe Franco in the third round.
While it was not enough to get him a UFC contract, White did reveal that Vidal would have another chance to earn his place in the promotion on the final episode of the season.
Given he only signed up to the fight with a week’s notice, it was an impressive performance from the New Yorker.
Samuel Sanches knocked out Chase Blair two minutes into the first round
Another first-round finish came at the hands of Samuel Sanches, who calmly made light work of Chase Blair in their Lightweight encounter.
Sanches did well to defend a rear choke attempt in the early stages, shaking off Blair before laying in a brutal combination of punches while he was backed up against the cage.
He knocked out Blair with a star-making performance and could be one to watch going forward in the UFC.
Carol Foro and Shanelle Dyer both earned contracts after an all-out war on Dana White’s Contender Series
In a first for season nine of Dana White’s Contender Series, both women in the opening bout of episode five earned contracts from the boss after an all-out war to kick off the show.
Shanelle Dyer was dropped twice in the first round, and the referee threatened to call off the fight, but she survived an onslaught to take the fight back to Carol Foro in a bloody war in the octagon.
While Foro dropped her again in the second round, Dyer impressed in the third, although it wasn’t enough to stop the judges from awarding the win to Foro.
The performance was so impressive that White gave both women UFC contracts in a fantastic way to start this week’s episode.