DWCS Season 10 Closes With Four Contracts and One Big Snub

Season 10 of Dana White's Contender Series wrapped Tuesday night at the UFC Apex, and the finale handed out four UFC contracts to push the season total to 46 — a number that ties the show's all-time record. For a season built on knockouts and firefights, Week 10 was a quieter affair: one genuine war, two finishes, and a couple of fights that had the Apex crowd reaching for their phones.

The headline twist wasn't who got signed. It was who didn't. Erick Visconde won the main event with a lopsided unanimous decision over Ilias Bulaid, sweeping the cards 30-27 across the board, and still walked away without a deal. Dominance, it turns out, isn't the same thing as a sales pitch.

A Main Event That Won the Fight but Lost the Room

Visconde went to his wrestling from the opening bell, shooting takedowns and grinding out control time on the floor. Bulaid never found an answer, but he did enough defensively to keep Visconde from threatening a finish. The result was clean on paper and flat in the building — the boos were audible by the final horn.

Visconde told Laura Sanko afterward that he broke his hand in the second round, which blunted his offense. White wasn't swayed. He told Visconde he showed promise but didn't deliver the performance expected of him, and sent him back to try again next year. A decision win, a clean sweep, and no contract. Welcome to the Contender Series math.

Sundell Gets In — Barely

The co-main delivered the night's most intriguing signing. Smilla Sundell, a former ONE Championship Muay Thai titlist, outworked Aline Pereira to collect her third MMA win and a UFC deal. At 21 years old with only two pro bouts coming in, Sundell is a project with a loud resume in striking and a thin one on the mats.

Pereira — sister of light heavyweight contender Alex Pereira, who's 13-4 and set to face Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 335 — declined to drag the fight to the floor, and that played straight into Sundell's hands. Behind forward pressure and volume, Sundell banked a 29-28 sweep. White admitted during the ceremony that he thought she was too raw and needed more development time, but the room outvoted him. The contract came anyway.

The Finishes

Luis Francischinelli made the clearest statement of the night. At 6-foot-6, he towered over Will Rentz, who tried to erase that reach with takedowns early. Francischinelli used his legs to scramble back up, and once the fight stayed standing his length and power took over. A short left hand dropped Rentz, and the follow-up strikes ended it at 2:18 of the first round.

Douglas da Lapa's fight with Davi Cabral was the one legitimately worth the price of admission. The 6-foot-3 da Lapa chewed up the 5-foot-8 Cabral with power combinations, but Cabral's chin bordered on inhuman — he ate everything and kept marching, even hurting da Lapa at one point. Da Lapa hurt him badly late in the second, and at the start of the third, a pair of hooks sealed it in 19 seconds. Both got their reward: da Lapa got the finish, Cabral got the respect.

Foster Opens With a Barnburner

The opener set the tone that the rest of the card couldn't match. Greg Foster and Jason Asher traded a ridiculous volume of significant strikes, with the pressure-first Foster — nickname 'Punch First' — setting a blistering pace from the jump. Asher dropped him with a spinning backfist and surged in the third, catching a kick and landing a takedown, but it wasn't enough to flip the scorecards.

Foster took it 29-28 across the board, and while only he earned the contract, both men gave the finale its one true highlight. That's the Contender Series bargain in a nutshell: the fighter who thrills tends to get the nod over the fighter who merely wins.

The through-line of the night is simple. White rewarded aggression and personality over control-time dominance, which is exactly why Visconde is still waiting and Sundell — against White's own instincts — is UFC-bound. With 46 contracts handed out, Season 10 matches the record. The next question is how many of these signings stick once the lights get brighter and the opposition gets real.