Dana White’s Contender Series to go on hiatus during likely ‘Fight Island’ run, return in November

Dana White’s Contender Series to go on hiatus during likely ‘Fight Island’ run, return in November

Dana White’s Contender Series will go deeper into 2020 than originally expected.

During the DWCS 31 broadcast Tuesday, UFC president Dana White offered promotional hopefuls Melsik Baghdasaryan, Tucker Lutz and Nate Smith a second opportunity on the series. However, in doing so, he also revealed the promotion is planning a November return – the timeline in which the three fighters would be invited back.

During a DWCS 31 post-event news conference, White said the show will take a short hiatus and return in November.

“Yeah, (the hiatus) is because we’re more than likely going to ‘Fight Island,’” White said.

According to approved Nevada Athletic Commission licensure applications, this season of DWCS is scheduled to run every Tuesday through Oct. 6, which would complete the 10-episode run. However, when asked how many remained, White was unclear.

The promotion this past weekend announced five-card lineups for Sept. 8 and Sept. 15 but nothing beyond those dates. With the UFC expected to kick off a “Fight Island” run Sept. 26 with UFC 253, it would mean three DWCS episodes remain when the shows returns in November.

Dana White’s Contender Series launched in 2017 and has since held four American installments and one Brazillian installment. It has produced numerous UFC notables such as Sean O’Malley, Edmen Shahbazyan, Greg Hardy, Maycee Barber, Geoff Neal, Alex Perez, Sodiq Yusuff, and more.

Check out Dana White’s full DWCS 31 post-fight news conference in the video above.