{"id":40390,"date":"2026-09-09T04:07:51","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T04:07:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/Dana-White-had-to-fight-UFC-matchmakers-over-one-DWCS-contract-202724"},"modified":"2026-09-09T04:07:51","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T04:07:51","slug":"dana-white-had-to-fight-ufc-matchmakers-over-one-dwcs-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/dana-white-had-to-fight-ufc-matchmakers-over-one-dwcs-contract\/","title":{"rendered":"Dana White had to ‘fight’ UFC matchmakers over one DWCS contract"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n


\nWeek 5<\/a> is the first time that fewer than five fighters earned
\n
\nUltimate Fighting Championship<\/a> contracts on the 10th season of
\n
\nDana White\u2019s Contender Series<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dana White signs Christian Natividad, Martin Kozak, Isaac
\nMoreno and Quentin Pasley to the UFC<\/h2>\n

Week 5 of DWCS 2026 went down on Sept. 8 at Meta Apex in Las Vegas.
\nChristian
\nNatividad<\/a> (10-0) started the action with a flyweight matchup
\nagainst Colton Loud<\/a>
\n(7-0). Natividad folded Loud with a body shot in just 70 seconds to
\nearn a UFC contract. UFC CEO Dana
\nWhite<\/a> was also impressed with the fact that Natividad took the
\nfight on just eight days\u2019 notice.<\/p>\n

\n

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

\u201cLet\u2019s start with Christian,\u201d White said. \u201c10-0 now, coming in on a
\nweek\u2019s notice against a much bigger guy, and you finished with an
\nincredible body shot. You couldn\u2019t open the show better; you
\ncouldn\u2019t perform better; welcome to the UFC.\u201d<\/p>\n

Apollo
\nGomes<\/a> (13-2) took on Won Il Kwon<\/a>
\n(14-7) in a featherweight matchup. Gomes survived an early
\nonslaught from Kwon and gained momentum in the latter rounds to
\nearn a unanimous decision win. However, White wasn\u2019t impressed and
\nopted against granting Gomes a UFC contract.<\/p>\n

\u201cApollo, I liked this fight,\u201d White said. \u201cI think you both fought
\ngreat. You didn\u2019t do anything to make me say, \u2018I got to have this
\nguy.\u2019 But you\u2019re a young guy; you can get more experience.
\nTonight\u2019s not your night, brother.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martin
\nKozak<\/a> (7-0) took on Christian
\nEchols<\/a> (8-5) in a middleweight matchup. Kozak dominated Echols
\nfrom the onset, dropping him with a head kick in the first round,
\nbefore finishing him with a flurry of punches in the second round.
\nWhite granted the 24-year-old undefeated Slovakian a UFC
\ncontract.<\/p>\n

\u201cMartin, 24-year-old, 7-0, 100% finish rate, you also have a 6-0
\namateur background,\u201d White said. \u201cI think that you have a very
\nbright future in the UFC, my friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Isaac
\nMoreno<\/a> (9-0) earned a hard-fought unanimous decision win in his
\nwelterweight bout against Reginaldo
\nGeraldo Jr.<\/a> (11-2). White revealed that he had to fight with
\nthe UFC matchmakers to grant Moreno a UFC contract.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsaac, I like that I got to see a lot from you tonight,\u201d White
\nsaid. \u201cYou fought a guy that has four knockouts, five submissions.
\nSo, you were in danger everywhere in the fight\u2026 I\u2019m gonna be honest
\nwith you, I had to fight a little bit with the matchmakers; they\u2019re
\nnot believers; I am. Isaac, congratulations on getting into the
\nUFC.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quentin
\nPasley<\/a> (4-0) headlined the card in a light heavyweight matchup
\nagainst Arlind
\nBerisha<\/a> (5-1). Pasley finished the previously undefeated
\nAlbanian with some vicious elbows from top late in the first round.
\nWhite admits that he was surprised when he saw Pasley headlining
\nthe card with a 3-0 record. However, the UFC matchmakers had
\nrightly promised him that Pasley\u2019s booking was justified. White
\ncompared the 24-year-old to Jon Jones<\/a>
\nwhile granting him a UFC contract.<\/p>\n

\u201cQuentin\u2026 I said to the boys, \u2018Why is a 3-0 guy the headliner
\ntonight?\u2019 And they looked at me and said, \u2018You\u2019re gonna find out,\u2019\u201d
\nWhite said. \u201c4-0 and 24-years-old is very young and inexperienced
\nto get into the UFC, but holy sh*t! So, after the fight, including
\nmyself, lots of Jon Jones talk. Reminded a lot of people of Jon
\nJones. You are a very exciting kid; we\u2019re all looking forward to
\nseeing you fight again. Get over here.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

4 signings tonight from #DWCS<\/a>
\n\ud83d\udc4f<\/p>\n[ LIVE on @ParamountPlus<\/a>
\n] pic.twitter.com\/myLliUMLZn<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 UFC on Paramount+ (@UFConParamount)
\nSeptember 9, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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

Week 5 is the first time that fewer than five fighters earned Ultimate Fighting Championship contracts on the 10th season of Dana White\u2019s Contender Series. Dana White signs Christian Natividad, Martin Kozak, Isaac Moreno and Quentin Pasley to the UFC Week 5 of DWCS 2026 went down on Sept. 8 at Meta Apex in Las […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40391,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40390","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\/40390","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=40390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}