Dana White's Contender Series will return for its 10th season
on Aug. 11, with all episodes set to stream exclusively on
Paramount+.

The long-running talent showcase will once again give aspiring
mixed martial artists the opportunity to earn an
Ultimate Fighting Championship contract by impressing the UFC
President and CEO, as well as the promotion’s matchmakers.

Dana White’s Contender Series returns for Season 10

Season 10 will consist of 10 Tuesday night episodes beginning on
Aug. 11 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. Each episode will feature five
bouts, with every episode streaming exclusively on Paramount+.

Since its debut in 2017, DWCS has become one of the UFC’s primary
talent pipelines. Across its first nine seasons, along with Dana
White’s Contender Series: Brazil, the series has awarded more than
300 UFC contracts.

Furthermore, the show has also produced four UFC champions:
Sean
O’Malley, Jamahal
Hill, Jack
Della Maddalena and current light heavyweight king Carlos
Ulberg.

Several current contenders and prominent prospects also broke out
from the series, including Lone'er
Kavanagh, Kevin
Vallejos, Jacobe
Smith, David
Martinez, Ateba
Abega Gautier, Quillan
Salkilld, Payton
Talbott, Jean Silva,
Carlos
Prates, Josh Hokit,
Mauricio
Ruffy, Kevin
Holland, Caio
Borralho, Brendan
Allen and Joe
Pyfer.

Season 10 will feature another wave of hopefuls looking to earn
their place on the UFC roster.

“Demolidor” leaves the promotion after building a 10-6 record
inside the Octagon across two weight classes. However, he has lost
four of his last five fights, ending his UFC run on a lackluster
note.

UFC parts ways with Michel Pereira after six-year Octagon
run

Pereira has exited the UFC after six years in the promotion. He
made his UFC debut against Danny
Roberts in 2019 and has since won 10 fights inside the Octagon.
The 32-year-old completed his previous contract with a
split-decision victory over Zachary
Reese in February following a losing streak. He then signed a
one-fight deal to face Magomedov in Azerbaijan.

His last appearance ended in a unanimous decision defeat. Pereira
later criticized referee Herb Dean for
not deducting points from Magomedov despite issuing multiple
warnings for hair pulling. Magomedov also avoided a point deduction
for a seemingly blatant eye poke.

Pereira enjoyed his best run in the UFC during an eight-fight
winning streak between 2020 and 2024, but this momentum was lost
after consecutive defeats to Anthony
Hernandez, Abus
Magomedov and Kyle
Daukaus.

While several fighters have had multiple stints in the UFC, with
some even going on to win gold after returning to the promotion,
Pereira's inconsistency and age may prove to be a stumbling block
to him getting re-signed.

Mazzulla, who's attended several
Ultimate Fighting Championship events, was recently seen
training MMA with esteemed coach Eric Nicksick at
Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas. He has revealed that he looks up
MMA gyms to train at while traveling through different cities
during the NBA season.

Joe Mazzulla uses MMA coaching practices in the NBA

Mazzulla believes MMA helps him build a fighter mentality, which is
required while taking on rival NBA teams in enemy territories.

“I think it just keeps you fresh, mentally and physically, so that
when I’m helping the team, I have a little bit of that fighter
mentality,†Mazzulla told Ariel Helwani. “It just helps grow a
little bit of an edge, and every little bit helps.â€

Mazzulla is also taking specific inputs from Nicksick about
communicating with athletes. He believes there are similarities
between MMA and basketball in terms of coaches communicating with
the players and is learning Nicksick's techniques of in-game
communication amidst all the chaos.

“The thing that's interesting in the in-fight communication,â€
Mazzulla added. “I think communication can be distracting. I ask
Eric a lot about what his communication is during the round…
There’s a timeout component in communication, but also in-game
communication… I think one of the hardest things in coaching is
to relay, in a simple way, what you see to the players so that they
can see it simply and execute. I think Eric does a great job of
that.â€