Dana White’s Contender Series will kick off its seventh season on
Aug. 8 with a card headlined by middleweights Cesar
Almeida and Lucas
Fernando.
Advertisement
The full lineup for the five-bout card was announced over the
weekend. The other bouts are as follows: Tom Nolan vs.
Bogdan
Grad at lightweight; Kevin
Szaflarski vs. Caio
Machado at heavyweight; Payton
Talbott vs. Reyes
Cortez Jr. at bantamweight and Rickson
Thai Zenidim Bueno vs. Kevin
Borjas at flyweight.
The Contender Series takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and
airs Tuesday nights on ESPN beginning at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. The
current season will run through Oct. 10 and awards UFC contracts to
prospects who catch the eye of UFC president Dana White and
matchmakers during their bouts. Fighters who have appeared on the
Series include Jamahal
Hill, Sean
O’Malley, Ryan Spann,
Maycee
Barber, Johnny
Walker, Marina
Rodriguez, Alex Perez,
Taila
Santos and Bo Nickal, to
name a few.
A kickboxer with a 47-8-1 career mark, Almeida has been victorious
in his first three professional MMA appearances. Most recently, the
35-year-old Lotus MMA member scored a 38-second knockout of
Danilo de Souza Silva at Shooto Brazil 110 in December
2021.
Fernando will carry a 9-1 record into the matchup with Almeida. In
his last outing, Fernando claimed the Legacy Fighting Alliance
middleweight crown with a fourth-round KO of Jansey
Silva at LFA 154 on March 10.