Winners batted .1000 on the night during episode eight of Season 8 of the Dana White Contender Series on Tuesday from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
All five winners earned contracts and praise from White during and after the show.
Here is a look at the results, along with a projection for each of the contract winners.
- Diyar Nurgozhay defeats Bartosz Szewczyk by KO (head kick) at 3:32 of Round 2
- Alberto Montes defeats Carlos Calderon by submission (anaconda choke) at 2:38 of Round 2
- David Martinez defeats Xavier Franklin by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Torrez Finney defeats Abdellah Er-Ramy by TKO (strikes) at 4:10 of Round 1
- Jacobe Smith defeats Christien Savoie by TKO (strikes) at 2:55 of Round 2
Jacobe Smith
The former Oklahoma State wrestler was likely the most impressive pure athlete on the night. Smith’s combination of power, explosiveness, and technique from the top position stood out in his TKO win over the overmatched Christien Savoie.
Smith finished the job with brutal elbows from the top position and ran up the cage wall with a flip to celebrate his win.
Smith, 28, is now a perfect 9-0, and he looks like he could be a legitimate threat at welterweight by the time he is 30. If the UFC matches him with a few pure strikers to start before serving up the more well-balanced competition, Smith could get some excellent momentum before breaking into the Top 15.
Ceiling: Top 8-10 welterweight in the UFC
Torrez Finney
It was great to see Finney finally get the UFC contract after his record third win on the show. The powerful and uniquely built former football player is a specimen with rare power in his takedowns and hands. Finney mauled Abdellah Er-Ramy en route to the TKO finish and the contract.
I’ll be honest: as much as I love Finney, he looks like a fighter who would be best suited as a welterweight. He’s fought in the heavyweight division and seems to have settled down as a middleweight.
However, at 5’8”–even with his freakishly long arms–he lacks the length to match up with most of the top 185-pounders in the UFC. I can’t help but wonder what Finney would look like if he adopted a conditioning plan similar to Jared Cannonier and worked to get himself down to 170 pounds.
Ceiling: Top 5-welterweight, Top 13-15 or unranked, but intriguing middleweight
David Martinez
One of the most impressive fighters on the night was David Martinez, the only winner not to get a finish. Martinez’s opponent, Xavier Franklin, was no slouch, but he had no answer for Martinez’s diverse striking and crispness in his overall game.
Martinez has fast kicks and a detonating right hand. At 26, he can leap frog Raul Rosas Jr. to become the next great Mexican fighter in the UFC.
Ceiling: UFC champion or title challenger
Alberto Montes
The GOAT Shed product is an aggressive submissions wizard. Montes will not bore fans with his ground game, and he is at least willing to exchange it on the feet. That said, his bread and butter is his variety of chokes.
Montes finished Carlos Calderon with a tight Anaconda Choke to give himself four consecutive wins.
Montes, 30, definitely deserves a spot in the UFC. Still, seeing if he can separate himself from others in the featherweight division with a similar skill set will be interesting.
Ceiling: Top 13-15 in the featherweight division
Diyar Nurgozhay
After scoring the most memorable finish of the night, Diyar Nurgozhay rode into the UFC’s light heavyweight division easily.
Nurgozhay ‘s head-kick KO over Bartosz Szewczyk got White and others’ attention.
The former Eagle FC light heavyweight champion has apparent power; at 27, he has some time to enter his prime. The light heavyweight division could be headed for transition after Alex Pereira moves up to heavyweight. Pereira is 38 years old, and it seems inevitable that he will look to become the first person in UFC history to win a title in three divisions.
His exit will make some room for young, light heavyweights like Nurgozhay. I don’t know if I see enough to convince me he is ahead of Bogdan Guskov and other light heavyweights on the rise.
Ceiling: Top 10 at light heavyweight
