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One of the most highly-touted contract winners from this year’s season of Dana White’s Contender Series reportedly has his first UFC fight booked.
The tenth edition of DWCS concluded last month, and nearly 50 contracts where handed out by Dana White over the course of 10 weeks of action.
A number of contract winners have already successfully debuted in the UFC, and Week 1 headliner Anthony Wint is 2-0 in the promotion after he made his debut less than two weeks after fighting on DWCS and also picked up a 23-second knockout at UFC 332 last month.
A former NFL player that seems to have considerable potential in an always-thin heavyweight division, Wint was one of the bigger prospects to join the UFC off of DWCS.
While Wint’s overall MMA ceiling still remains to be seen, fans also saw considerably more-credentialed fighters like Akbar Abdullaev secure UFC contracts in dominant fashion.
ONE PUNCH IS ALL HE NEEDED 🤯🤯🤯
— UFC on Paramount+ (@UFConParamount) September 16, 2026
Akbar Abdullaev UNCORKS a right hand for the clean KO!
[ #DWCS | LIVE on @ParamountPlus ] pic.twitter.com/yPQWtZIFi4
Bringing a perfect 13-0 record into his DWCS Week 6 fight with short-notice replacement opponent Ednilson Santos, former ONE Championship star Abdullaev only needed 19 seconds to brutally knock out Santos and earn an invitation to the UFC.
The quick victory extended both Abdullaev’s unbeaten record and 100% finishing rate as a professional fighter, and the way he dispatched Santos also helped validate fans that argued the 29-year-old should have been signed to the UFC outright instead of having to go through DWCS.
Less than two months removed from that contract-winning performance, Ag Fight reports that Abdullaev has signed on to make his UFC debut opposite Mairon Santos in Saudi Arabia on December 5.
Following a 13-1 start to his professional MMA career, Santos joined the cast of The Ultimate Fighter Season 32 and won back-to-back decisions to advance to the show’s featherweight finals.
“The Legend” knocked out Kaan Ofli in the second round to become the TUF 32 featherweight champion, and he’s currently 4-0 in the UFC after he also won three-straight fights last year.
Santos did unfortunately miss weight ahead of his knockout-win over Muhammad Naimov at UFC 323 his last time out, so the Brazilian will presumably be moving up to lightweight to meet Abdullaev in Saudi Arabia on December 5.
Main Event: Israel Adesanya vs. Shara Magomedov
Ion Cutelaba vs. Magomed Tuchalov
Jafel Filho vs. Bruno Silva
Matthieu Duclos vs. Modestino Rodrigues
Abdul Huseein vs. Hecer Sosa
Levan Chokheli vs. Islam Dulatov
Uran Satybaldiev vs. Ivan Gnizditskiy
Mairon Santos vs. Akbar Abdullaev