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live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device
via the ESPN app. Two
Ultimate Fighting Championship contracts were handed out during
the final
Dana White’s Contender Series event of Season 5. Joining the
leading mixed martial arts promotion is lightweight Maheshate
and the undefeated welterweight Yohan
Lainesse, who both impressed UFC head honcho Dana White. The card was headlined by a lightweight battle between Maheshate
and Achilles
Estremadura, who walked in with an undefeated record seven
bouts into his career. Both men came out firing and it was
Maheshate (6-1) that rocked his unbeaten opponent just seconds into
the bout. However, Estremadura stayed composed and was able to land
damaging combinations for the rest of the round. However, Maheshate
landed a huge jumping knee in the second frame that hurt the
Canadian and stole the round. The third round was back-and-forth
with both men having their moments, although Maheshate landed the
more impressive bouts and earned three 29-28 scorecards.
With the victory, Maheshate becomes the first Chinese fighter to
win a DWCS match and earns a shot in the UFC, while Estremadura
drops to 7-1.
This fight
[
#DWCS | Tune in LIVE on @ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/NAexHVKaH7— UFC (@ufc)
November 3, 2021
The co-main event saw a clash between unbeaten welterweights
Lainesse and Justin
Burlinson. Lainesse (8-0) stayed undefeated by knocking out
Burlinson (6-1) with a giant left hook that finished the fight.
The knockout came at just 1:37 of the first frame. The performance
was impressive enough to earn the Canadian a contract.
The second flyweight bout of the card saw Lun Qiu face
off against Erisson
Ferreira da Silva. The fight was all action early as Qiu (13-8)
managed to land damaging blows early on and scored a few
knockdowns. However, da Silva (11-1) managed to finish Round 1
strong and carried over that momentum into the second frame,
although the action naturally slowed a bit. Both men left it all in
the cage in a frantic final frame that saw da Silva threaten with a
guillotine choke as time expired. The judges rewarded the hard work
of da Silva with three 29-28 scorecards in his favor.
In a featherweight contest, Jonas
Bilharinho managed to best Canaan
Kawaihae. After a slow first round, the action continued on the
feet until a double low blow brought both men to knees. After the
fight was restarted, Kawaihae (6-2, 1 NC) had a renewed vigor and
started picking up the pace. However, the final round saw
Bilharinho (9-1-1) begin to land powerful blows and wound up
landing a gorgeous spinning heel kick that knocked out
Kawaihae with just a minute left of Round 3. However, White
wasn’t impressed with Bilharinho’s performance prior to the KO and
no UFC contract was given out.
Week 10 opened with a flyweight bout between China’s Zhifa Shang
and Juan
Puerta. The opening round was a grappling-heavy affair that saw
Puerta (23-6) get top position for most of the frame. Round 2 was
much more back-and-forth as both Shang (32-8) and “Leadfeather”
managed to take each other’s backs and put the other in danger. The
final frame was spent on the feet with Shang landing the sharper
strikes. After three rounds of action, the judges favored the
grappling of Puerta, who took home a split decision with scores of
29-28, 28-29 and 29-28.
