The third time was the charm for Torrez Finney as the undefeated middleweight finished Abdellah Er-Ramy within one round to finally earn a UFC contract on Tuesday.
Finney became the first fighter in Dana White’s Contender Series history to earn three wins under the banner. He earned a submission win over Yuri Panferov last year on Season 7 and won a decision over Cam Rowston six weeks ago but was not rewarded with a spot on the UFC roster.
The powerful 185-pounder, who stands just five-foot-eight, took Er-Ramy down early in the fight, right in front of the UFC president, who was watching closely with a smirk on his face.
White told the fighter earlier this year following the aforementioned Week 2 win that he’d get “absolutely decimated” in the UFC and thought he needed more quality wins before getting a shot at the Octagon.
Finney came close on an arm-triangle submission attempt but couldn’t lock it in fully, so he eventually went back to ground-and-pound from mount position to get the stoppage and improve to 10-0 with the seventh KO/TKO win of his career.
The featured bout at the UFC Apex saw Diyar Nurgozhay of Kazakhstan begin patiently before landing a huge head kick knockout in the second round to defeat Bartosz Szewczyk of Poland. Nurgozhay, 27, is now 10-0 and looks to have some promise in the light heavyweight division.
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Jacobe Smith had a dominant showing against Canadian Christien Savoie to open the five-fight card. The 9-0 welterweight wasted little time putting to use his All-American wrestling skills, taking the fight to the ground easily and slicing Savoie open with elbows in multiple spots. One was an illegal elbow that landed directly on the back of Savoie’s head.
This ended up being just the third fight of Smith’s career to make it out of the first round as six of Smith’s first eight wins were via first-round KO/TKO. Smith was relentless with elbows on the ground and the referee eventually called a stop to the action with Savoie continuing to land unanswered shots. At 28 years old, Smith is a high-ceiling prospect at 170 pounds.
Canadians are now 0-5 on Season 8 of DWCS with Savoie of Saint John, N.B., falling to 10-2-1 as a pro.
Featherweights Alberto Montes and Carlos Calderon gave fans of scrambles and submissions something to cheer for during their opening round, which was one of the best of the entire season.
Calderon began to slow down in the second round and Montes started landing solid punches. He also landed an illegal knee that went unnoticed. When the action returned to the mat, Montes attempted the rare Peruvian necktie before transitioning to an anaconda choke that eventually resulting in Calderon tapping.
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Bantamweights David Martinez and Xavier Franklin had a great scrap with Martinez sweeping the scorecards after 15 minutes. Although all judges scored all three rounds for Martinez, the fight was competitive throughout and earned a standing ovation from White.
Martinez, 26, improved to 11-1 as a pro after using effective leg kicks in each round to pull ahead in the striking department. He will now join his sister, strawweight Melissa Martinez, as the first brother-sister siblings in the UFC.
Franklin, 27, suffered his first pro loss after beginning his career 5-0 but White entered the cage to shake his hand and lend some words of encouragement following the loss, which isn’t something White usually does on Contender Series cards.
This was the second consecutive week that saw all five winners earn a UFC contract following their victories.
DWCS Season 8, Week 8 Official Results:
— Diyar Nurgozhay def. Bartosz Szewczyk by knockout at 3:32 of Round 2
— Alberto Montes def. Carlos Calderon by submission (anaconda choke) at 2:38 of Round 2
— David Martinez def. Xavier Franklin by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
— Torrez Finney def. Abdellah Er-Ramy by technical knockout at 4:10 of Round 1
— Jacobe Smith def. Christien Savoie by technical knockout at 2:55 of Round 2
UFC contract recipients: Jacobe Smith, Torrez Finney, David Martinez, Alberto Montes, Diyar Nurgozhay
