{"id":39907,"date":"2026-08-12T02:55:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T02:55:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/Tom-Pagliarulo-overcomes-fear-earns-UFC-contract-at-DWCS-2026-Week-1-202323"},"modified":"2026-08-12T02:55:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T02:55:16","slug":"tom-pagliarulo-overcomes-fear-earns-ufc-contract-at-dwcs-2026-week-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/tom-pagliarulo-overcomes-fear-earns-ufc-contract-at-dwcs-2026-week-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Tom Pagliarulo overcomes fear, earns UFC contract at DWCS 2026 Week 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n

Tom
\nPagliarulo<\/a>\u2019s career aspirations are finally coming to
\nfruition.<\/p>\n

Pagliarulo (11-2) took on Ananias
\nMulumba<\/a> in a featherweight clash on Week 1 of
\nDana White\u2019s Contender Series<\/a> 2026. \u201cThe Phenom\u201d left it all in
\nthe cage, finishing Mulumba with ground-and-pound in the final
\nseconds of the fight, earning an
\nUltimate Fighting Championship<\/a> contract for his efforts.<\/p>\n

\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018Most afraid I\u2019ve ever been\u2019: Tom Pagliarulo details how his
\nteam helped him stay focused ahead of DWCS Week 1<\/h2>\n

Pagliarulo admits that he was very nervous throughout fight week.
\nHowever, his coaches and teammate, UFC bantamweight Cory
\nSandhagen<\/a>, helped him stay dialed in. The 29-year-old is glad
\nto have finally made it to the biggest stage in MMA, even if it
\ncame a little later than he expected.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the most afraid I\u2019ve ever been in my life, all week,\u201d
\nPagliarulo said in his post-fight interview. \u201cMy coaches and Cory
\nSandhagen back home kept me locked in. Just reminded me to go be
\nme, and that will always be enough. I\u2019m like a cockroach; you got
\nto kill me if you want to put me away\u2026 I was never the most
\ntalented or naturally gifted kid. Growing up, doing all these
\nsports, I fell short of all my goals. I was never the starter in
\nall of those team sports. But I was always the hardest worker in
\nthe room; I kept showing up. My coaches back home told me, \u2018You\u2019ve
\nalways had that fire.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

UFC CEO Dana
\nWhite<\/a> later commended Pagliarulo\u2019s performance before awarding
\nhim a contract.<\/p>\n

\u201cThomas, you were in a dog fight, turned it on in the third round,
\nand finished a really tough kid,\u201d White said. \u201cCongratulations,
\nyou\u2019re in.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

GNP gets the job done \ud83d\udcaa<\/p>\n

Tom
\nPagliarulo<\/a> earns the first finish of #DWCS<\/a>
\nS10!<\/p>\n[ LIVE on @ParamountPlus<\/a>
\n] pic.twitter.com\/5AkTat5vp4<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 UFC on Paramount+ (@UFConParamount)
\nAugust 12, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/center>
\n

<\/p>\n
\n

TOMMY P is in the UFC \ud83e\udd29<\/p>\n

Tom
\nPagliarulo<\/a> is signee #2 of S10 of #DWCS<\/a>!<\/p>\n[ LIVE on @ParamountPlus<\/a>
\n] pic.twitter.com\/WomRdRyzuK<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 UFC on Paramount+ (@UFConParamount)
\nAugust 12, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/center> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tom Pagliarulo\u2019s career aspirations are finally coming to fruition. Pagliarulo (11-2) took on Ananias Mulumba in a featherweight clash on Week 1 of Dana White\u2019s Contender Series 2026. \u201cThe Phenom\u201d left it all in the cage, finishing Mulumba with ground-and-pound in the final seconds of the fight, earning an Ultimate Fighting Championship contract for his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39908,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-martial-arts-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}