Abushaar Keeps Contract Hopes Alive in DWCS Main Event vs Unbeaten Staines

Tuesday night at the Meta APEX in Las Vegas, Loai Abushaar walked into the Contender Series main event carrying the kind of momentum Dana White tends to reward: a 7-1 record and four consecutive finishes. Standing across from him was George Staines, an 8-0 lightweight who'd never tasted defeat and wasn't planning to start.

The stakes were simple. This is the business end of Season 10, where White has already awarded 34 contracts across the run, including five in last week's episode alone. Win convincingly and you're on the roster. Coast to a decision and you might be sent home to earn it again.

A Trimmed-Down Card

The event lost a fight before it even started. The scheduled opener between Ilias Bulaid and Erick Visconde was scrapped after Bulaid fell ill on Tuesday, with the matchup pushed back to Week 10. That left four bouts on the docket, which put extra weight on the ones that survived.

The quickest statement of the night came from Ian Escuza, who needed all of 32 seconds to dismantle Luca Borando. Escuza finished by knees for a first-round TKO — exactly the kind of no-hesitation violence that gets a name circled on White's contract sheet. When you're auditioning, brevity plays.

Aieza Bertolso followed with a slicker piece of work, tapping Camila Reynoso with an inverted D'Arce choke at 3:02 of the opening round. The submission is a nasty, technical squeeze, and pulling it off under Contender Series pressure says plenty about her composure in tight spots.

The Co-Main Puzzle

The heavyweight co-main pitted Adama Diop against unbeaten Zaurbek Sabanov (4-0). Diop arrived on a five-fight run with four knockouts, three of them in the first round — a finisher's résumé that made him one of the more intriguing names on the night. Sabanov's job was to prove his perfect record wasn't padding.

Heavyweight on the Contender Series is always a coin flip. Diop's power meant the fight could end in a blink, but Sabanov's unbeaten record suggested he knew how to avoid the worst of it. That's the tension White loves at APEX: two guys who can both end it, neither willing to blink first.

What the Main Event Meant

Back to the headliner. Abushaar's calling card is that finishing streak — four straight, no reliance on judges. That matters here, because White has been vocal for years that he wants signees who go for the throat rather than fighters who point-manage their way to 30-27 cards.

Staines had the counter-argument built into his ledger: 8-0 and untested in the loss column. An unbeaten prospect who can drag a dangerous finisher into deep water and win rounds is exactly the type who forces White into a harder decision — impressive resume, but did he make the room stand up?

For the loser, the Contender Series is rarely the end. White has a habit of bringing back fighters who lose competitive bouts, and a strong showing can still lead to a roster spot down the line. For the winner, it's the launchpad — a contract, a spot in one of the sport's deepest lightweight or heavyweight pools, and the real work starting the moment the ink dries.

Season 10 keeps churning, and with 34 contracts already gone, the margins are thin. On a night trimmed to four fights, the men who finished fast did their negotiating in the cage. That's always been the whole point of this show.