Last week on Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series we only had four fights on the card. For the first time this season we had a five fight card, with a main event between two fighters getting a second chance on the show. Let’s see who got UFC contracts after their performances.
Bout 1: Victor Reyna (10-3) vs. Miguel Baeza (6-0) (Welterweight)
In the first bout, we had Victor Reyna versus Miguel Baeza in a Welterweight bout. Despite the weight class, Reyna came in 7 pounds over the limit. After two minutes of uneventful stand-up, Baeza dropped Reyna with a right hand. The fight went to the ground where Baeza was in top position. Reyna tried getting up, letting Baeza take the back and try for a rear naked choke. They stood up in clinch where Reyna escaped the submission. At the start of the second round Reyna landed a punch which made Baeza fall. He got up shortly after and clinched up with Reyna. While Baeza had tons of dominant strikes throughout the round, at the end he was taken down twice by strikes. The second time he went down due to knees but was saved by the bell, with Reyna wanting the fight to be called. In the third round, Reyna was coming forward with strikes consistently. Reyna was landing shots from top position but got caught in a triangle choke as the fight ran out of time. All three judges gave Miguel Baeza the nod on their scorecards (29-28, 29-28 & 29-28).
My Scorecard:
| Fighter | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Total |
| Reyna | 9 | 9 | 10 | 28 |
| Baeza | 10 | 10 | 9 | 29 |
Bout 2: Miles Johns (8-0) vs. Richie Santiago (7-1) (Bantamweight)
The next bout was a Bantamweight contest. Miles Johns put his undefeated record against Richie Santiago. The first round had explosive fists from both fighters. Johns landed a takedown two minutes into the bout. In the opening moments of the second round, Santiago was knocked down by punches. He went to the ground to try for a hold but eventually brought it back to stand-up. He threw a few more punches and then landed another takedown. In the third round, Johns landed punches and knees that brought Santiago to the floor. Santiago hung on and stopped the roll that Johns was on. After they were on the ground for a little the referee stood them up. Both tired, they traded strikes until the fight came to a close. Miles Johns was given the unanimous decision win (30-27, 30-27, 30-26).
My Scorecard:
| Fighter | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Total |
| Johns | 10 | 10 | 10 | 30 |
| Santiago | 9 | 9 | 9 | 27 |
Bout 3: Michael Lombardo (8-1) vs. Kyle Daukaus (6-0) (Middleweight)
In the first round, another undefeated fighter in Kyle Daukaus fought Michael Lombardo. After both fighters fought in stand-up and clinching up against a cage, Daukaus tried for a guillotine from bottom position. They got back up but went back down shortly after as Daukaus threw Lombardo down. On the ground in the second round Daukaus showed a variety of submission moves on the ground, making him dominant throughout the round. In the final round, Daukaus got a takedown. He tried for submissions for a long time, having Lombardo completely on the defence throughout. He put in a rear naked choke at the end of the third round that Lombardo endured although it was close. Kyle Daukaus won the fight quite decisively (30-25, 30-26 & 29-27).
My Scorecard:
| Fighter | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Total |
| Lombardo | 9 | 9 | 8 | 26 |
| Daukaus | 10 | 10 | 10 | 30 |
Bout 4: Justin Gonzales (9-0) vs. Zach Zane (12-7) (Featherweight)
Attempting to continue the trend of undefeated fighters winning, Justin Gonzales fought Zach Zane. Right off the bat, Gonzales landed some hard strikes. On the ground, Gonzales stayed on top of Zane for most of the round. In the second round, Gonzales caught a kick and landed punches while holding onto the leg. On the ground, Gonzales tried for a rear naked choke. It never got put on well enough for a bout to end. Seconds into the final round Gonzales landed yet another takedown. They got back to their feet for a while where Gonzales landed a knee and some punches before landing yet another takedown. The fight went all 15 minutes with Justin Gonzales winning unanimously (30-26, 30-26 & 30-26).
My Scorecard:
| Fighter | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Total |
| Gonzales | 10 | 10 | 10 | 30 |
| Zane | 9 | 9 | 9 | 27 |
Bout 5: Alton Cunningham (7-1) vs. Tony Johnson (7-2) (Light Heavyweight)
The final bout of this episode was between people who didn’t have the best outcome in their last DWTNCS bookings. Alton Cunningham lost via stoppage in his first Contender Series fight. Also worth noting that was a Middleweight fight. Tony Johnson was taken off his Contender Series fight after being injured weeks before. On this show, they both had a second chance. Both fighters had hard strikes right off the bat. Johnson seemed to take control with punches and knees. Cunningham landed a takedown which slowed down the fight. There was a huge swelling above Cunningham’s right eye that started to develop in the first round. The second round had a lot of fighting up against the cage. After being up against the cage for a long time the referee separated the fighters. They exchanged punches at the end before the horn went. The decision for this bout was all three judges giving the win to Tony Johnson (29-28, 29-28 & 29-28).
My Scorecard:
| Fighter | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Total |
| Cunningham | 9 | 10 | 10 | 29 |
| Johnson | 10 | 9 | 9 | 28 |
At the end of the night Dana White decided that Miguel Baeza and Miles Johns will sign to the UFC. Baeza gave an emotional interview afterwards talking about how he does everything for his family.
JackWannan.com 