The UFC’s Asian inroads will continue in 2020 when the promotion’s current stateside recruitment brand heads to the other side of the world.
Dana White’s Contender Series launched in 2017 as a way for fighters to compete for a chance for UFC president Dana White to be impressed enough with their performances to sign them to full-fledged UFC contracts.
Three seasons in Las Vegas later, as well as a three-event offshoot in Brazil, DWCS already has brought countless fighters to the promotion, including early standouts like Maycee Barber, Sean O’Malley and Greg Hardy. Now the UFC will attempt to do the same thing in Asia.
The UFC on Wednesday announced Dana White’s Contender Series Asia will launch in 2020. Fights will take place at the new UFC Performance Institute facility in Shanghai, which upon completion became the largest MMA training center in the world – three times larger than the UFC PI in the promotion’s home city of Las Vegas.
“One of my favorite parts of my job is looking for up-and-coming talent,” White said. “There’s no area in the world right now with more potential MMA talent than Asia. We’re going to use Dana White’s Contender Series to find these fighters, develop them, and give them the opportunity to perform on the biggest stage in combat sports.”
Dana White’s Contender Series Asia is expected to feature both female and male fighters across all 11 current UFC weight classes. Like the fights on DWCS in the States, though they’re not official UFC fights, the results will count toward the fighters’ records.
Fight dates and fighters will be announced later.
Dana White's Contender Series launching Asia edition in 2020