Dana White’s Contender Series Season 10 wrapped up on Tuesday, October 13, at Meta APEX in Las Vegas, with 10 fighters making one last run at a UFC contract before the season closed. The five-fight card streamed on Paramount+ in the U.S. and SportsNet in Canada beginning at 7 p.m. ET. At the time of publication, official scorecards and contract winners had not been posted on UFC.com’s live results page, run by Simon Head. Cageside Press’s results page also still had an empty “Contract Winners” section.
The season had already set a high bar for the finale. Sports Illustrated counted 32 finishes and 42 contracts through nine weeks. Week 9 produced four of those deals, and all four came from first-round finishes. The one winner who left without a contract was Alivia Bierly, who beat Summer Onley by unanimous decision. That result should worry anyone on Tuesday’s card who planned to coast on a points lead.
The main event
The featherweight headliner had been booked once already. Ilias Bulaid, an unbeaten kickboxer at 9-0, was set to fight Erick Visconde in Week 8 until he fell ill on fight night. The matchmakers moved the bout to the finale instead of scrapping it. Visconde, a former LFA featherweight champion, came in on a four-fight win streak, according to MMA Fighting. Both men made weight without issue. So did everyone else on the card.
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Pereira vs. Sundell
Most of the attention was on the co-main. Aline Pereira, the 36-year-old sister of former UFC champion Alex “Poatan” Pereira, entered at 3-2 in MMA. Her record started at 1-2, and she won her next two after a 3-0 run in Karate Combat, where she holds a title. Cageside Press wrote openly that her marketable last name helped land her the shot.
Her opponent was a tough draw. Smilla Sundell is 21, a former Muay Thai champion with ONE Championship, and 2-0 in MMA since switching over earlier this year. She stopped both of those opponents with strikes. MMA Fighting framed the bout as Pereira’s attempt to hand Sundell her first loss.
The undercard
The lightweight opener matched undefeated Jason Asher against Greg Foster. At middleweight, two unbeaten Brazilians met. Davi Cabral, a former grappling standout, stopped his first six MMA opponents before going the distance in July. Douglas da Lapa has gone to the judges only once in six pro fights. The welterweight bout between Luis Francischinelli and Will Rentz was billed as another grappler-versus-striker matchup. MMA Junkie’s live coverage called the card Dana White’s Contender Series 96.
Here’s my read on the night. Week 9 showed what Dana White rewards: a first-round finish gets a contract and a clean decision might not. That puts more pressure on Pereira than on anyone else on the card. She’s 15 years older than Sundell, and Sundell has finished every MMA opponent she’s faced. A famous surname can get a fighter booked at the APEX. To earn the contract, Pereira has to get past a 21-year-old with ONE Championship experience who throws to end fights.
