Dana White’s Contender Series Season 3 Episode 6 saw four more fighters being awarded UFC contracts in addition to the most spectacular finish to date in the show’s history.
In the main event Aleksa Camur earned a TKO victory over Fabio Cherant that secured his spot in the UFC.
A former boxer, Camur was dictating the stand-up action in the opening round, but got caught by a punch early in the second and that encouraged Cherant to come forward, only for Camur to then launch into a flying knee that connected and sent him staggering backwards hurt.
Camur than swarmed on him with strikes as he fell to the mat and though Cherant tried desperately to regain his senses te accumulation of blows eventually forced the referee to wave off the fight.
Afterwards, Camur’s teammate Stipe Miocic personally called White to make sure he was going to sign him, after having previously having gone on record that he was the future of the sport.
The co-main event featured an even more spectacular flying knee though as Aalon Cruz left it late to find a perfect finish against Steven Nguyen.
The fight was close and competitive throughout, but in the final minute of the third round Nguyen was pressing forward looking to earn his spot in the promotion when Cruz suddenly leapt into a picture perfect flying knee that landed so hard it snapped his opponent’s head back and sent him crashing to the mat for a memorable KO finish.
Immediately afterwards White was seen motioning that he’d be signing a contract for Cruz, who had pulled off probably the best KO in Contender Series with only 24 seconds of the fight remaining.
Meanwhile, at flyweight Tracy Cortez also claimed a contract after she put on a dominant display of grappling against Mariya Agapova en-route to a unanimous decision victory.
Also winning a UFC deal was heavyweight Rodrigo Nascimento who got the quickest finish of the night, stopping Michal Martinek with an arm triangle choke midway through the opening round in the first fight of the night.
Results:
Light Heavyweight: Aleksa Camur defeats Fabio Cherant by TKO at 48 seconds of R3
Featherweight: Aalon Cruz def. Steven Nguyen by knockout (flying knee and punches) at 4:36, R3
Flyweight: Tracy Cortez def. Mariya Agapova by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 29-27)
Welterweight: Daniel Rodriguez def. Rico Farrington by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Heavyweight: Rodrigo Nascimento def. Michal Martinek by submission (arm triangle choke) at 3:16, R1
