LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – SEPTEMBER 06: UFC president Dana White announces the contract winners during Dana White’s Contender series season six, week seven at UFC APEX on September 06, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)
Zuffa LLC
The ninth season of Dana White’s Contender Series gets underway in August. The full season runs from August 12 through October 14 and features five fights per card. At stake in each contest is a UFC contract. Last year, in Season 8 of the DWCS , UFC CEO Dana White awarded 42 UFC deals. Through the history of the DWCS, 287 UFC contracts have been awarded. Three fighters have become UFC champions after appearing on a DWCS card: Sean O’Malley, Jamahal Hill, and Jack Della Maddalena. Below, we look at the first three fight cards for the 2025 edition of the DWCS.
All DWCS events take place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and stream on ESPN+
UFC 319 Main Card Set With High-Stakes Featherweight Co-Main Event
DWCS Season 9 Week 1: August 12, 2025
Middleweight: Ilian Bouafia vs. Neemias Santana
Welterweight: Ty Miller vs. Jimmy Drago
Middleweight: Damian Pinas vs. Murtaza Talha
Featherweight: Radley da Silva vs. George Mangos
Middleweight: Christopher Ewert vs. Yuri Panferov
UFC 320 Main Event: Magomed Ankalaev Vs. Alex Pereira 2 Opening Odds
DWCS Season 9 Week 2: August 19, 2025
Featherweight: Manuel Exposito vs. José Mauro Delano
Middleweight: Jonathan Kunneman vs. Cameron Rowston
Bantamweight: Louis Lee Scott vs. Kaushik Saikumar
Heavyweight: Josh Hokit vs. Guilherme Uriel
Featherweight: Tommy Cuozzi vs. Ramiro Jimenez
UFC 321 Main Event: Tom Aspinall Vs. Ciryl Gane Opening Betting Odds
DWCS Season 9 Week 3: August 26, 2025
Light Heavyweight: Vitor Ferreira Costa vs. Ryan Gandra
Featherweight: Márcio Barbosa vs. Damon Wilson
Light Heavyweight: Alik Lorenz vs. Abdul-Rakhman Yakhyaev
Lightweight: Cristian Pérez vs. Manoel Sousa
Heavyweight: Brando Peričić vs. Elisha Ellison
UFC Announces First Six Fights For Perth Card Including Main Event
Over the past three seasons of the DWCS, White has awarded 131 UFC contracts. The season high came in 2023 when 46 contracts were doled out. In 2022 that number was 43, while last year 42 fighters were offered deals. Before Season 6 in 2022, the most contracts White offered was 39 in Season 4.
The DWCS season moved to 10 events per year in 2019 and has held steady at 10 since then.
We will have previews and predictions for each DWCS Season 9 fight card, as well as results and reactions live at the DWCS events take place.