Dana White’s Contender Series this past Tuesday ended with an emotional moment between White and a new UFC star.
Over the last month, Dana White’s Contender Series has seen a new batch of UFC hopefuls fighting in live job interviews as they look to earn contracts into the premier promotion.
With this being a rare week where there isn’t a UFC event this coming Saturday, many fans tuned into week six of the Contender Series, looking for their fix of fights.
And heading into week six, it was being highlighted as one of the best weeks of the season with there being six undefeated prospects on the card.
White handed new UFC star heartfelt note after emotional fight
The first few fights provided a lot of entertainment with three finishes from the first four fights heading into the main event.
In the main event, Spanish contender Hecher Sosa, who is a teammate of current UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria, took on Brazilian bantamweight Mackson Lee.
The 30-year-old went on to hand Lee his first ever loss after dominating him over three rounds.
Ahead of his fight against the Brazilian, Sosa revealed that just a few days before his fight, he tragically lost his father to cancer, and vowed to honor him with his performance.
Sosa unfortunately received a call from his brother a day before his weigh-ins while he was still cutting weight, and he somehow managed to continue his weight cut and subsequently pull off the victory.
And after what must’ve been such an emotional time in his life, UFC boss Dana White handed him a heartfelt note.
“Be the f—— reason your last name means something one day,” the note read.
Sosa among four UFC contract winners
After his win over Lee, Sosa was of course handed a contract into the UFC, joining an extremely small group of Spanish fighters in the premier promotion.
Along with Sosa, Cody Chovancek was given a UFC contract after scoring a knockout win over British fighter Raphael Uchegbu.
Although White isn’t a fan of signing older contenders, 32-year-old old Tommy Gantt was given a contract after a win over Adam Livingston.
Polish standout Iwo Baraniewski also got signed after scoring a quick 20 second knockout in the light heavyweight division.