Dana White’s Contender Series Week Three: Who Aced The Interview?

[AdSense-A]

By Anthony “Zute” George

Week two of Dana White’s Contender Series set a high standard. All five winners were awarded UFC contracts, only the third time that many fighters aced their job interview on one show since the show began. Who would join them in week three? Here is who competed.

Kenneth Cross Vs Kevin Syler (lightweights):

Cross came into the fight with plenty of charisma and a killer left hand.

Syler entered the bout trying to make up for his mismanagement on the scales; failure to make weight prevented him from earning a chance in the UFC in 2019. The end result was an uneventful fight that went the distance, which Kenneth Cross won. Scorecards read 30- 27, 29-28, 29-28 In favor of Cross. It does not speak well for an MMA fighter when their most impressive feature was submission defense. Kenneth Cross successfully defended several submission attempts from Syler.

Chad Johnson Vs Josh Parisian (heavyweights):

Chad Johnson went into this fight with a great reputation as a finishing striker. His finish rate was perfect in six fights. Parisian had experience on his side and no stranger to the UFC. Parisian also had a tremendous size advantage. Outweighing Chad Johnson by slightly over fifty pounds, 260.5 to 215 pounds. The extra pounds and experience came in handy for Parisian. He was able to absorb some early dynamite strikes from Johnson, then pounced on Johnson when he saw he had his opponent in trouble. Ending the fight with a brutal ground and pound at 3:43 of the first round. Parisian looked impressive. He was relaxed, calculated, and absorbed some heavy blows from a heavy-handed foe.

Orion Cosce Vs Matt Dixon (welterweights):

Orion, along with his brother, Louis, came into this fight with plenty of hype from the UFC brass, and a reputation for having substantial power. However, Matt Dixon, was seen as an even hotter prospect, undefeated with a perfect finish rate in nine fights, on the ultimate job interview. The fight appeared to be up for grabs going into the third round. Dixon’s ability to change levels and take Orion down was the difference in round one. Orion Cosce improved his takedown defense in round two and appeared to land the better strikes.

Cosce dominated round three both on the feet and when the battle went to the ground. Cosce slammed Dixon to the ground and began to go to work. Dixon’s head hit the ground hard and seemed to have a damaging effect on Dixon. Dixon did virtually nothing offensive in the final round and found himself in dire straights with less than one minute left in the round. Cosce took full advantage of Dixon’s vulnerable position and ended the fight with a ferocious ground and pound finish out of the crucifix position at 4:42 of round three.

Orion Cosce was the biggest underdog of the night. However, that had more to do with the impressive cache that Dixon brought to the fight, rather than a narrative of Orion Cosce’s MMA skills. Which are obviously of the charts. Cosce also showed he can turn it on and go for it when need be. He stated that he did not know for sure he won that second round and did not want to find out. If all those elements were not enough to convince you that Orion is a special person, he also showed high class after the fight. Stating that he felt Matt Dixon too deserved a UFC contract for his efforts.

Hillarie Rose Vs Cheyanne Buys (strawweights):

Rose came into the fight with a solid jujitsu background, while Buys, pronounced Bays, owned a black belt in Taekwondo. Both fighters put up a solid effort. Still, most of the battle occurred in the wheelhouse of Cheyanne Buys. She was more effective with her strikes and clinch control against the fence. Rose’s toughness allowed her to go the distance. But she lost every round. The judges agree scoring the fight 30-27 three times for Cheyanne Buys. Buys is a solid performer with plenty of grit to go with her skills. Her husband, J.P. Buys is also and MMA fighter with plenty of promise.

Louis Cosce Vs Victor Reyna (welterweights):

Like his brother, Louis came into the fight with a solid reputation for being a massive banger. Reyna had much more experience and a more impressive resume in his column. Reyna needed all that experience because Louis Cosce shot dice and came out winging hard kicks and punches. Cosce was accustomed to finishing fights swiftly, he won his last fight in eighteen seconds, and this fight was no exception. Nothing on Reyna’s resume helped him from Cosce’s wrath, which began with a crunching overhand left that sent the veteran Reyna to the floor. Louis jumped on Reyna right away and put Reyna in a helpless position to digest unappetizing right hands. The bout was stopped at 1:12 of round one. Victor Reyna was never knocked out prior to this fight.

Who won a UFC contract?

After all the fighting and winning is finished, Dana White is the man who tells these mixed martial artists if they indeed did enough to earn a UFC contract. Winning your fight is not enough to win the approval of Boss White, and plenty of fighters have won on the contender series but not awarded a UFC contract. Tonight’s lucky bunch is as follows:

Josh Parisian
Orion Cosce
Cheyanne Buys
Louis Cosce

Dana passed on Kenneth Cross because he felt now is not his time. The other four fighters get to live out their dream. Still, in many ways, the fighting has just begun. How will the fare in the UFC?

Stay tuned…

Anthony “Zute” George is the Author of Tough Man: The Greg Haugen Story, a new boxing book that covers the skilled champion from Auburn, Washington, as well as the scope of the times during his days of pugilism.

Purchase your copy from Amazon.

Purchase your copy from Barnes & Noble.

[si-contact-form form=’1′]