Dana White’s Contender Series - Season 8, Week 10: Odds And Predictions

The first nine weeks of Season 8 of Dana White's Contender Series saw the UFC CEO award 38 contracts to hopeful competitors. On Tuesday, October 15, 10 eager fighters head to the UFC Apex in Las Vegas in an attempt to impress the UFC brass and earn a UFC deal. This week’s fight card marks the final event of the current season of DWCS. In Week 1, Lone'er Kavanagh and Jose Delgado scored highlight-reel knockout wins in the opening two fights of the card. Week 2 followed that same trajectory as Cody Haddon opened the show with a first-round submission victory. In Week 3, Malcolm Wellmaker was the star of the show, picking up a contract for his first-round knockout. Week 4 saw all five winners earn contracts, but Yuneisy Duben was the highpoint, scoring a massive knockout. Week 5’s big surprise was City Kickboxing’s Navajo Sterling joined teammates such as Israel Adesanya, Kai Kara France, Dan Hooker, Carlos Ulberg and more on the UFC roster. Sterling earned his UFC deal with an impressive knockout in the feature bout. In Week 6, White added a young heavyweight finisher to the promotion in Talisson Teixeira. The highlight of Week 7 was Kevin Vallejos, who was fighting on the DWCS for the second time. Vallejos earned his UFC deal with an overwhelming striking performance against the overmatched Cam Teague. In Week 8, fans saw former Oklahoma State wrestler Jacobe Smith, a fighter who Daniel Cormier compared to Khabib Nurmagomedov, make the cut. Last week, Islam Dulatov had the most impressive performance, scoring a contract with a first round knockout. Since the DWCS began in 2017, White has awarded over 250 contracts to participants. Sixteen fighters, including former UFC bantamweight champion Sean O'Malley, earned contracts in the first season. In 2023, that number jumped to 46 fighters. Season 8, Episode 10 of the DWCS airs on Tuesday, October 8, on ESPN+ at 8:00 p.m. ET. Below, we look at the matchups, betting odds, picks, and predictions for this week’s Dana White’s Contender Series fight card. The card features five strong matchups that should interest fight fans. The opening fight on the 10th episode of Season 8 of the DWCS is a welterweight contest between Mohamed Ado and Jonathan Micallef. Ado sports a 5-0 record with five finishes (one knockout and four subs), while Micallef is 6-1 with two knockouts, two subs, and two decisions. He is a former HEX Fight Series titleholder. Both men have fought twice in 2024. The betting odds for this contest are a pick ‘em with both competitors listed at -115. Ado is a good technical striker, while Micallef is more of a brawler who uses his striking to set up his takedowns in the hope of getting the fight to the ground. The betting pick is Ado by decision, but Micallef’s aggression could steal the fight for him on the scorecards. A women’s strawweight contest is next on the lineup card. In this matchup, Leslie Hernandez (4-1) faces Julieta Martinez (7-0). Hernandez lost her pro MMA debut, and his run off four straight victories since then with two decisions and two knockouts. She has spent her career competing with LFA. Martinez, who has spent her time as a pro with Samurai Fight House has four knockouts, two submissions and one decision. She is the Samurai Fight House champion. This fight is also a pick ‘em with Hernandez listed at -105 and Martinez is -125. The problem with picking this fight is that it’s impossible to find tape on Martinez. With no tape to go on for one of the competitors, it would be unfair to make a pick. In the middle of the card we have a featherweight fight. In this bout, Yadier DelValle meets Antonio Monteiro. The 28-year-old DelValle is 7-0 with two knockouts, two subs, and three decisions. He has spent most of his time with Fury FC and is 2-0 in 2024. Monteiro has a 17-4-1 record as a 29-year-old. His wins have come by knockout (three), submission (five), and decision (eight). Three of his losses have been via decision and he has one sub setback. He has been a pro since 2013 and reps Nova Uniao. The odds fave DelValle at -160. Monteiro is listed at +124. DelValle is black belt in jiu-jitsu and he seems to have a penchant for looking for the guillotine. His striking is serviceable, but not his focus. Monteiro is mostly a wrestler with a heavy top game, but he is also active on top. The pick is DelValle to win via decision. This fight was supposed to be a flyweight rematch of a Week 3 matchup between Nick Piccininni and Jack Duffy, a fight that Piccininni won via split decision, but a result that Dana White disagreed with. However, Duffy is out of the fight and Luis Gurule is in on short notice. Piccininni has a 7-0 record with five submissions and two decisions, while Gurule is 7-0 with five knockouts, one submission and one decision. Gurule won the Fury FC 125-pound title on September 22 of this year with a fourth-round submission win over Jacob Silva, who went 0-2 on the DWCS in 2020. Again, this fight is a pick ‘em with Piccininni at -120 and Gurule at -110. Piccininni has an impressive wrestling background, but he also has shown a willingness to strike, but his striking defense can be suspect. Gurule is a pressure fighter, who looks to do damage when he’s on the mat. His striking is good, but he does not put out a lot of volume. He also has a wrestling background, but not as high-level as his foe. The betting pick is Piccininni to get the win, but if he looks to engage in his striking more than his wrestling in the hope of impressing White, he could let the fight get away from him and it could go to Gurule. Closing out Season 8 of the DWCS is a middleweight matchup between Nick Klein and Heraldo Souza. Klein is 5-1 with two knockouts, two subs and one decision. His loss came via KO. Klein has not fought since November 2023. Souza sports a 9-1-1 mark. He has three knockouts, five submissions and one decision. His loss came by knockout. Souza’s most recent outing came in April of this year. Souza is a -188 betting favorite over Klein, who comes in at +145. Klein has good takedown defense and when the fight goes to the mat, he does not accept the position and gets back to his feet. Souza is a small middleweight, but he has fast hands and throws a lot of combinations in close. However, he does not have good cardio, and his fight IQ is questionable. The pick is for Klein to take advantage of Souza’s iffy cardio and fight IQ issues and get the decision win. Souza has a chance to win by knockout in the first round.