Dana White’s Contender Series closed out its tenth season Tuesday night at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, and four of five winners walked away with UFC contracts. The night’s headline act, though, ended with the toughest kind of win: one that didn’t come with a deal.
Four prospects sign with the UFC
Brazilian middleweight Douglas da Lapa, unbeaten in six professional fights, stopped fellow Brazilian Davi Cabral, himself unbeaten in seven, by TKO just 19 seconds into the third round. Both men had built reputations as finishers who rarely needed the full three rounds, and da Lapa’s performance earned him a UFC contract on the spot.
Welterweight Luis Francischinelli, who entered the night at 6-1, needed only the first round to finish American Will Rentz by TKO at the 2:18 mark. Rentz, who trains out of Gracie Tampa South in Tampa, Florida, had been sidelined for months with injuries before winning his two most recent fights by stoppage, a run that ended against Francischinelli.
Lightweight Gregory Foster, carrying an 8-1 record into the bout, outpointed Jason Asher on all three scorecards, 29-28 across the board. Asher, who fights out of Mid City MMA in New Orleans, had been unbeaten in five pro fights, all of them finishes by knockout or TKO, four of those inside the first round, before the loss cost him his perfect record.
Three fighters lost their unbeaten record on the same card, Bulaid, Cabral and Asher among them, a reminder of how competitive the show has become for fighters hoping to skip straight to the UFC roster.
Swedish striker Smilla Sundell, just 21 years old and unbeaten in two MMA fights, won a unanimous decision over Aline Pereira, also 29-28 on every card, at women’s bantamweight. Sundell became the youngest world champion in Muay Thai history at age 17 under the ONE Championship banner before leaving the organization in the summer of 2025 and signing with Tuff-N-Uff to launch her MMA career. All four winners were added to the UFC roster after the show.
Erick Visconde wins the main event, leaves without a deal
The featherweight main event matched Moroccan striker Ilias Bulaid, unbeaten in nine fights and nicknamed “The Blade,” against Brazilian veteran Erick Visconde, nicknamed “Sabugo” and carrying a 17-3 record built against tougher competition. The bout had originally been scheduled earlier in the season before illness forced Bulaid off that card, pushing the matchup back to the finale.
Visconde controlled the fight and won a clean unanimous decision, with three identical 30-27 scorecards, ending Bulaid’s unbeaten run. Despite the lopsided win, Visconde did not receive a UFC contract afterward, unlike the other four winners on the card.
The result leaves Visconde in an unusual spot for a main event winner. His experience against sterner opposition than most prospects on the show usually face made him a betting favorite going in, and the decision gave him exactly that kind of statement win, without the deal that typically follows one.
Alex Pereira’s sister falls short in her own bid for a contract
The name American fans will recognize belongs to someone who didn’t win. Aline Pereira, the 35-year-old sister of former two-division UFC champion Alex “Poatan” Pereira, was chasing her own UFC contract on the same card. The reigning Karate Combat flyweight champion, carrying a 3-2 professional MMA record, came in on a two-fight win streak that included a decision over Canada’s Jade Masson-Wong. She lost a unanimous decision to Sundell, who controlled most of the three rounds.
A season finale that keeps feeding the UFC pipeline
Season ten of Dana White’s Contender Series aired on Paramount+ in the United States, giving the promotion a steady stream of new signings through the summer and into the fall. Da Lapa, Francischinelli, Foster and Sundell now join that pipeline and will wait for their first assigned opponents under the UFC banner, while Visconde and Pereira will have to wait for another opportunity.
Fans looking to track the new signees’ UFC debuts, along with the rest of the promotion’s schedule, can follow the latest announcements on mma-official.com.
Since it launched, Dana White’s weekly show has sent dozens of fighters straight to the UFC roster without the usual run through regional circuits, a shortcut that puts real weight on every finish and every scorecard handed out during the season.
For American viewers who followed the season on Paramount+, this finale also closes out a run that mixed Brazilian finishers, an American wrestler-grappler in Rentz, and a European striker in Sundell, a spread that mirrors how international the UFC’s talent pipeline has become.
