Season 7 of Dana White’s Contender Series concludes this evening (Oct. 10, 2023) with an extra-large finale at the APEX.
The action begins at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
Last week’s action produced five contracts in four fights, among them arguably the least-deserved in the history of the program. Rodolfo Bellato’s mauling of Murataza Talha, Victor Hugo Silva’s kneebar of Eduardo Matias Torres, and Mauricio Ruffy’s comeback upset of Raimond Magomedaliev all produced well-deserved calls to the big show, but Jose Daniel Medina inexplicably joined victor Magomed Gazhiyasulov in UFC despite losing virtually ever second of their fight.
After suffering an early stoppage against Serhiy Sidey last month and missing weight in the process, Ramon Taveras (8-2) returns to face Cortavious Romious (7-1) in the Bantamweight main event. Rickson Zenidim (14-1), previously slated to join the show in August before running into visa issues, gets his shot against knockout artist Andre Lima (6-0) in the co-feature.
Earlier in the evening, Season 6 veteran Connor Matthews (6-1) faces Jair Farias (10-0) at Featherweight, Yuri Panferov (6-0) takes on fellow unbeaten Middleweight Torrez Finney (6-0), and BRAVE CF vet Issa Isakov (10-2) meets Marquel Mederos (7-1). The rare sixth bout is a transplant from last week; Lucas Rocha (16-1) nuked the scales for a planned Flyweight bout with Davi Bittencourt (14-3), so they’re trying again at 135.
‘Contender Series’ Quick Results:
Ramon Taveras vs. Cortavious Romious
Rickson Zenidim vs. Andre Lima
Connor Matthews vs. Jair Farias
Yuri Panferov vs. Torrez Finney
Marquel Mederos vs. Issa Isakov
Davi Bittencourt vs. Lucas Rocha
‘Contender Series’ Play-By-Play Results:
135 lbs.: Ramon Taveras vs. Cortavious Romious
Round one:
Round two:
Round three:
Final result:
125 lbs: Rickson Zenidim vs. Andre Lima
Round one:
Round two:
Round three:
Final result:
145 lbs.: Connor Matthews vs. Jair Farias
Round one:
Round two:
Round three:
Final result:
185 lbs.: Yuri Panferov vs. Torrez Finney
Round one:
Round two:
Round three:
Final result:
155 lbs.: Marquel Mederos vs. Issa Isakov
Round one:
Round two:
Round three:
Final result:
135 lbs.: Davi Bittencourt vs. Lucas Rocha
Round one:
Round two:
Round three:
Final result:
For more Contender Series news and notes, be sure to hit up our comprehensive archive right here.
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
