DWCS Season 10: The Best Fights of the Season (And What's Next?)

Ten weeks, 49 fights and 46 UFC contracts, which ties the record for a single season. Dana White's Contender Series Season 10 is in the books, and on the latest MMAnomaly Show Olin and Pip went back through it to pick the best fights of the year. There were slam knockouts, a 19-second finish, a record-setting war and the biggest upset in the show's history. Below are the fights that made our lists, in the order we ran through them on the show, with the official result for each and what should come next. You can watch the full episode, DWCS Season 10 Best Fights, on the MMAnomaly YouTube channel.

First, a quick update on the underdog experiment. We put one unit on every underdog, every week, all season, with no handicapping and no picking spots. The dogs went 20-29 across 49 fights, and by our final count that flat bet finished up 19.76 units, about a 40% return. One fight carried a lot of that, and we'll get to it. Take it out and the season is still up 4.76 units. Week 7 was the only real bruise: every favorite won and we went 0-for-5.

The Best Fights of Season 10

George Staines def. Loai Abushaar (KO — slam and punches, R1 1:01) | Week 8

Pip's No. 5, and it earned the spot for the history alone. Staines needed 61 seconds to get the body lock and put Abushaar through the canvas, giving the Contender Series its first-ever slam knockout. The Liverpool lightweight trains at Next Generation MMA with Paddy Pimblett and Luke Riley, and he's 11-0. Pip thinks he may be more technical than most of that gym: sharp combinations, calf kicks at the end of exchanges, good timing on his entries and a long 6-foot frame for 155. He can be reckless, but the wrestling and slams give him a way to control the wild exchanges. Abushaar was one of our dogs at +300, so this one cost us a unit, but we're not mad about it.

What's next? Pip wants a fight that tests his grappling and picked the loser of Kody Steele vs. Noah Gugnon, which goes down at UFC 333 this weekend. Olin's options: a builder fight with Claudio Puelles, or the bigger gamble of Mandel Nallo, fresh off his TKO of Nate Landwehr at UFC Edmonton. We both liked Nallo stylistically. Staines has the length to strike with him and the wrestling to cause him problems.

Kaik Brito def. Namo Fazil (KO — punch, R3 0:12) | Week 2

Olin's pick, from the most-watched episode of our season. Brito and Fazil traded hard for two rounds, Brito was rocked into the fence early in the third, and then he answered with an overhand right that put the seemingly iron-chinned Fazil out cold 12 seconds into the round. It was one of the most brutal knockouts in the show's history and a textbook fastball special. He loaded up and threw it straight down the middle. He was also a dog that cashed at better than +150. Pip's take: Brito is hittable and his takedown defense isn't the best, so he may not be a top-15 guy, but he's a barn-burner who will deliver fun fights.

What's next? Welterweights who are struggling and can test his durability. We floated Kyle Prepolec, Guram Kutateladze and Francisco Prado. The one we agreed on was Gabe Green, the most fun fight of the bunch.

Bilal Hasan def. Mridul Saikia (TKO — punches, R1 0:45) | Week 1

Pip's No. 4. He has it that low only because "The IndoNinja" is already more of a UFC prospect than a Contender Series one. Hasan set the tone with a low kick, dropped Saikia with an overhand right and finished him with ground strikes in 45 seconds. Then, 18 days later at UFC Shanghai, he knocked out Nilson Rojas with a right hand at 2:28 of round two and won Performance of the Night. Pip's case is fight IQ: he understands distance better than most veterans, switches stances, chops the calf and attacks the body, and eight of his 10 wins are knockouts. That's rare power at flyweight. Olin's two words for him: smooth criminal. What impressed him most in those 18 days was Hasan's patience on the big stage. He trains with Demetrius Johnson, and he looks like a problem.

What's next? No matchmaking needed. Hasan meets Luis Gurule on the UFC 334 main card at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 14. Pip is predicting an early finish, with Hasan keeping Gurule at range and punishing his entries. After that, Olin wants a real step up, with Kevin Borjas as a fun litmus test.

Piero Guaylupo def. Callum Connor (Unanimous Decision, 30-27 x3) | Week 7

Olin's No. 2, and the war of the season. Guaylupo and Connor combined for 474 significant strikes, the most ever in a three-round UFC or Contender Series bout and the most in any UFC/DWCS lightweight fight. Connor's 265 is a Contender Series record. Dana called it one of the greatest fights you'll ever see and signed both men, one of three fights this season where the winner and the loser both left with contracts. Connor was our dog at even money, so the loss still felt like a win. Pip noticed that Guaylupo's grappling won some of the toughest exchanges. Both men showed durability that a lot of the bottom of the lightweight roster doesn't have, and Guaylupo is still only 21 and 12-0.

What's next? Lightweight is a shark tank even around No. 50. For Guaylupo, someone coming off a loss like Mike Davis, or the loser of Jared Gordon vs. Melquizael Costa at UFC 334. For Connor, Gage Young or Daniel Zellhuber would be money in the bank.

Akbar Abdullaev def. Ednilson Santos (KO — punch, R1 0:19) | Week 6

Pip's No. 1. Abdullaev walked out against short-notice replacement Ednilson Santos and needed 19 seconds. A couple of body shots brought the guard down, and one overhand right that sounded like a baseball bat put Santos face-first on the canvas. Jason Herzog waved it off with no follow-up needed. It was a clean execution of a game plan: hand speed, footwork and angles, all composed under the bright lights. Dana went as far as calling him possibly the greatest prospect in Contender Series history. The former ONE standout is now 14-0 with 13 knockouts and a perfect finish rate. Two fights before he arrived, he stopped champion Tang Kai in the fifth round but couldn't take the belt after failing the hydration test. Pip believes he can compete in the lightweight top 15.

What's next? Pip wants an early grappling test and named Sodiq Yusuff, a way to build Abdullaev and find out where he stands in one fight. Abdullaev wants to be active, and that matters for a guy we already like as a fantasy pick.

Alex Apodaca def. Bella Mir (Unanimous Decision, 29-28 x3) | Week 3

Olin's No. 1: the fight that paid for our whole season. Mir, Frank Mir's daughter, closed as a massive favorite in the range of -3300, and books had Apodaca anywhere from about +1200 to +1900. It goes down as the biggest upset in Contender Series history. Apodaca went 15 minutes and wore Mir down at a gas-tank level. Every minute it went on, you could see Mir realize this wasn't going the way it was supposed to. Pip pointed to Apodaca's control of the center, her takedown defense, her ability to get back up or reverse, and her ground and pound. She's long for women's bantamweight at 5'7" with a 71.5-inch reach and fights a Nate Diaz-style volume game. Olin's view on Mir: the pressure of a famous name is real, she lost at the same point in her career her father did, and he turned out fine. We won't be betting on her soon, but we will be betting on Apodaca.

What's next? Pip's first name was Tainara Lisboa. Olin thought that was too big a jump, and Lisboa faces Lucia Szabova on Oct. 31 anyway; if she loses, that fight makes more sense. Olin's alternatives were Julia Avila, Josiane Nunes, or a battle of the alumni with finale winner Smilla Sundell.

Other Notable Performances

Alvi Dasuyev def. Jaden Ortega (Unanimous Decision, 30-27, 30-27, 29-28) | Week 7. Pip's honorable mention and another fight where both men were signed. It was one of the wilder welterweight scraps of the season. Two unbeaten fighters went at it, and Ortega kept walking forward with flying knees and spinning attacks while eating shots. Olin's hot take: with fewer spinning techniques and more fundamentals, Ortega would have had a much better chance at winning. For Dasuyev's debut, Pip likes Billy Ray Goff.

Preston LaGrange def. Nell Ariano (TKO — punches, R1 2:24) | Week 9. A middleweight who took the fight on about two weeks' notice at light heavyweight, weighed in at 199.5 pounds and knocked out the unbeaten Ariano as a +400 underdog. He's 7-1 with every win a finish. He'll probably be a dog again in his debut, and we'll probably bet him again. He's headed back to 185, and we'd prefer a debut outside the top 50: the loser of Zach Reese vs. Mickey Gall, or Jackson McVey.

Trent Miller def. Douglas Rodrigues (Technical Submission — Von Flue choke, R2 1:04) | Week 2. Another dog that cashed, at around +450. Miller survived an early onslaught, then choked Rodrigues out with only the second Von Flue choke in Contender Series history. For a middleweight debut, we like a fellow Contender Series alum. Luis Felipe Dias was our favorite option.

Luis "The Stache" Hernandez def. Hugo Guillon (Submission — rear-naked choke, R2 1:01) | Week 6. He earned his contract at middleweight. Then he took a short-notice UFC debut at light heavyweight on Sept. 26 and tapped Sedriques Dumas with a standing guillotine in 57 seconds. He's 9-0, and Pip would like to see him against someone like Ibo Aslan next.

Alik Lorenz def. Mahamed Aly (KO — punches, R1 2:23) | Week 2. A +300 upset in his second trip to the Contender Series, finished with a right hand and ground strikes. Light heavyweight is thin, so Olin floated a bold jump to Julius Walker.

One stat sums up the season for us: of the 20 underdogs who won, 16 left with UFC contracts.

Looking Ahead

Season 10 delivered week after week, and plenty of these fighters are already moving. Hasan meets Gurule at UFC 334 on Nov. 14, the same card as Gordon vs. Costa. Steele vs. Gugnon at UFC 333 decides who we want for Staines, and Lisboa vs. Szabova on Oct. 31 could set up Apodaca's debut. Hernandez is already 1-0 in the UFC, and Abdullaev wants to fight again soon. The Contender Series is done until next summer, but the UFC calendar isn't slowing down, and our UFC 333 predictions are next. Let us know your favorite fight of the season in the comments on the YouTube episode. Stay tuned…