A promotion has reached its end for 2023 with MMASucka staff picks.
Dana White’s Contender Series: Season 7, Week 10, also titled as Dana White’s Contender Series 66, wraps up the promotion’s yearly stretch of late summer and early autumn Tuesday events. Twelve fighters look to secure a contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship by impressing Dana White, the company’s President, and company later tonight, October 10th from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event kicks off at 8:00pm ET (5:00pm PT) on ESPN+.
Results from Dana White’s Contender Series: Season 7, Week 10 will be available here at MMASucka. See at the bottom of this article’s page for Contender Series contract winners from Week 1 to Week 9.
Take a look back at our staff picks from the weekend with Friday’s ONE Fight Night 15 event as well as Saturday’s UFC Vegas 80: Dawson vs. Green and Bellator 300: Nurmagomedov vs. Primus.
The Fights
In the night’s featured main event, Ramon Taveras and Cortavious Romious will fight in the bantamweight division across three possible five-minute rounds. Former Combat Night Bantamweight Champion Taveras, who fell short at Dana White’s Contender Series: Season 7, Week 5 meeting with UFC signee Serhiy Sidey, gets a second opportunity at earning a contract. His opponent, Romious, has won seven of his eight bouts thus far fresh off a first-round armbar in June over regional notable Nate Williams.
Flyweights look to steal the show in the co-main event between Brazil’s Rickson Thai Zenidim and Andre Lima. Thai Zenidim targets the 15th professional victory of his career looking for his second straight win after dropping his one-and-only fight in a Fusion FC title fight versus Rodrigo Vera. Striking specialist Lima aims to display his kickboxing and Muay Thai abilities as he puts his undefeated run of six victories on the line.
Returning to the Contender Series cage after falling short in his 2022 matchup sees Connor Matthews set to fight undefeated Brazilian Jair Farias at 145 pounds.
Someone’s zero must go as undefeated middleweights of Torrez Finney and Yuri Panferov fight for their chance to sign with the UFC.
Recent Brave FC competitor Issa Isakov puts his four-fight win streak to the test against the five-fight victorious stretch of Fury FC’s Marquel Mederos in the lightweight division.
Lastly, after missing weight for Dana White’s Contender Series: Season 7, Week 9 last Tuesday, Lucas Rocha will get another chance at a contract as he battles Davi Bittencourt in their rescheduled bantamweight fight to open the ESPN+ event.
See our picks and predictions for Dana White’s Contender Series 66 further below.
2023 Staff Picks
MMASucka staff picks are composed of five promotions: the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Bellator MMA, ONE Championship, the Professional Fighters League (PFL), and Dana White’s Contender Series (DWCS). UFC and Bellator events feature picks from only main cards. PFL will feature select fights from the main and/or preliminary card while DWCS sees all fights counted from the event. ONE Championship returns to picks for the first time since 2020 and will feature only mixed martial arts (MMA) fights selected from cards with a minimum three matchups.
The WINNER of staff picks at the end of 2023, who picked the most victorious fighters, will have a choice between receiving a custom-made championship belt from ProAmBelts or a chain from Championship Chains. Staff picks in 2022 was won by Wesley Riddle with a record of 264-135.
In the final promotional event of the year, who wins and who is picked to win by the MMASucka crew at Dana White’s Contender Series: Season 7, Week 10?
Staff Records after Dana White’s Contender Series – Season 7, Week 9:
1. Ben Jamieson: 248-124
2. Michael DeSantis: 240-128
3. Jeremy Brand: 238-134
4. Wesley Riddle: 235-137
5. Nate Freeman: 233-139
6. Frazer Krohn: 223-149
7. Julio Monteros Jr.: 203-114
8. Andrew Benjamin: 174-148
9. Jack Goodwillie: 148-83
10. Brian Knight: 140-84
11. Tim Wheaton: 105-60
12. Roemello Reyes: 62-34
13. Jonathan Andrade: 31-24
14. Brandon Joint: 12-9
15. Andrew Harbaugh: 10-7
16. Joshua Yule: 7-6
17. Chris De Santiago: 6-6
18. Antwyn Jackson: 5-6
*Note – not all staff pick for every event*
*Note – ONE Fight Night 15, UFC Vegas 80, & Bellator 300 picks will be added to the above records NEXT weekend*
Davi Bittencourt (14-3), -125
vs.
Lucas Rocha (16-1), +105
Bantamweight Division
– 135 LBS. ~ 61.2 KG. –
Wesley Riddle: Bittencourt via Split Decision
Michael DeSantis: Rocha via Unanimous Decision
Andrew Benjamin: Rocha via Unanimous Decision
Nate Freeman: Rocha via Unanimous Decision
Ben Jamieson: Rocha via Unanimous Decision
Frazer Krohn: Rocha Unanimous Decision
Staff picking Bittencourt: 1
Staff picking Rocha: 5
Issa Isakov (10-2), -175
vs.
Marquel Mederos (7-1), +145
Lightweight Division
– 155 LBS. ~ 70.3 KG. –
Wesley Riddle: Isakov via Round 2 SUB
Michael DeSantis: Isakov via Round 2 TKO
Andrew Benjamin: Isakov via Unanimous Decision
Nate Freeman: Isakov via Round 2 TKO
Ben Jamieson: Isakov via Round 3 TKO
Frazer Krohn: Isakov Round 1 TKO
Staff picking Isakov: 6
Staff picking Mederos: 0
Torrez Finney (6-0), -218
vs.
Yuri Panferov (6-0), +180
Middleweight Division
– 185 LBS. ~ 83.9 KG. –
Wesley Riddle: Panferov via Round 1 SUB
Michael DeSantis: Finney via Round 2 TKO
Andrew Benjamin: Panferov via Unanimous Decision
Nate Freeman: Finney via Round 2 TKO
Ben Jamieson: Finney via Round 1 TKO
Frazer Krohn:: Finney Split Decision
Staff picking Finney: 4
Staff picking Panferov: 2
Connor Matthews (6-1), +150
vs.
Jair Farias (10-0), -180
Featherweight Division
– 145 LBS. ~ 65.8 KG. –
Wesley Riddle: Matthews via Split Decision
Michael DeSantis: Farias via Round 1 TKO
Andrew Benjamin: Farias via Unanimous Decision
Nate Freeman: Matthews via Split Decision
Ben Jamieson: Farias via Unanimous Decision
Frazer Krohn: Matthews Round 2 TKO
Staff picking Matthews: 3
Staff picking Farias: 3
Rickson Thai Zenidim (14-1), +215
vs.
Andre Lima (6-0), -265
Flyweight Division
– Co-Main Event –
– 125 LBS. ~ 56.7 KG. –
Wesley Riddle: Lima via Split Decision
Michael DeSantis: Lima via Split Decision
Andrew Benjamin: Lima via Unanimous Decision
Nate Freeman: Lima via Unanimous Decision
Ben Jamieson: Lima via Unanimous Decision
Frazer Krohn: Lima Unanimous Decision
Staff picking Thai Zenidim: 0
Staff picking Lima: 6
Ramon Taveras (8-2), +180
vs.
Cortavious Romious (7-1), -218
Bantamweight Division
– Main Event –
– 135 LBS. ~ 61.2 KG. –
Wesley Riddle: Romious via Round 1 TKO
Michael DeSantis: Romious via Round 2 TKO
Andrew Benjamin: Romious via Unanimous Decision
Nate Freeman: Romious via Round 2 TKO
Ben Jamieson: Romious via Round 2 TKO
Frazer Krohn: Taveras Round 3 knockout
Staff picking Taveras: 1
Staff picking Romious: 5
2023 DWCS Contract Winners
Week 1: Kevin Borjas (flyweight), Payton Talbott (bantamweight), Tom Nolan (lightweight), Cesar Almeida (middleweight), Caio Machado (heavyweight)
Week 2: Eduarda Moura (women’s strawweight), Charalampos Grigoriou (bantamweight), Hyder Amil (featherweight), Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady (lightweight), Ibo Aslan (light heavyweight)
Week 3: Luis Pajuelo (featherweight), Oban Elliott (welterweight), Zachary Reese (middleweight)
Week 4: Bolaji Oki (lightweight), Carlos Prates (welterweight), Thomas Petersen (heavyweight)
Week 5: Dione Barbosa (women’s flyweight), Serhiy Sidey (bantamweight), Jean Silva (featherweight), Dylan Budka (middleweight), Brendson Ribeiro (light heavyweight)
Week 6: Julia Polastri (women’s strawweight), Jean Matsumoto (bantamweight), Steven Nguyen (featherweight), James Llontop (lightweight), Jhonata Diniz (heavyweight)
Week 7: Igor da Silva (flyweight), Kaynan Kruschewsky (lightweight), Shamil Gaziev (heavyweight)
Week 8: Ernesta Kareckaite (women’s flyweight), Vinicius Oliveira (bantamweight), Danny Silva (featherweight), Danny Barlow (welterweight)
Week 9: Victor Hugo (bantamweight), Mauricio Ruffy (welterweight), Rodolfo Bellato (light heavyweight), Magomed Gadzhiyasulov (light heavyweight)
