Week 4 of Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series airs on UFC Fight Pass beginning at 7 p.m. CT. Below is a week-by-week listing of the fighters White has chosen up until now.
Week 1: Kurt Holobaugh and Boston Salmon
Week 2: Sean O’Malley
Week 3: Karl Roberson and Geoff Neal
Who will Dana White choose this week? Let’s take a look at the fighters and the match-ups.
Main Card
Phillip Hawes (4-1) vs. Julian Marquez (5-1) – Middleweight 185 lbs.
Phil Hawes started his professional career going 4-0 until he got subbed by Louis Taylor at WSOF 32. Hawes has made two appearances under the World Series of Fighting banner. He has also fought for Legacy Fighting Championship – Texas (LFC) and Global Knockout (GKO). The twenty-eight year old has three knockouts and one submission in four pro wins.
Julian Marquez has only tasted defeat one time in his MMA career. He went 3-0 as an amateur with all three wins by way of submission. As a pro fighter he is 5-1 with four knockouts and one submission. Marquez’s one loss occurred under the Bellator banner where he dropped a unanimous decision to Chris Harris. It was Marquez’s one and only Bellator fight. The thirty-seven year old has also fought for Blackout Fighting Championship (BFC), Kansas City Fighting Alliance, Combate Americas and Legacy Fighting Alliance (LFA).
James Gray (4-1) vs. Kyler Phillips (4-0) – Bantamweight 135 lbs.
After a long career fighting as an amateur where he went 10-0 with one no-contest, James Gray is 4-1 as a professional. He started out 4-0 but suffered his first loss in his last fight at XFCI 10 against Daniel Virginio. Gray has sixteen career fights, of those only one made it past the first round. As a pro all four of his wins are first round submissions. Even in the one loss, he was stopped in the first round. To take it even further, in fourteen career wins, each of them ended by submission and not one fight went longer than two minutes. As a pro Gray fought three times for the Xtreme Fighting Championships promotion, and once for Triple X Cagefighting and Total Warrior Combat (TWC).
Kyler Phillips has yet to taste defeat as a MMA fighter. He went 4-0 as an amateur and is now 4-0 as a pro. Of his eight total fights only one made it to the judge’s scorecards, and only two made it out of the first round. The twenty-two year old’s first three pro fights occurred under the California Xtreme Fighting promotion (CXF). His last fight was under the Legacy Fighting Alliance (LFA) umbrella where he beat Jonathan Quiroz by unanimous decision.
Ronaldo Candido (6-0) vs. Carlos Candelario (6-0) – Flyweight 125 lbs.
Ronaldo Candido is undefeated as a professional fighter with all six wins coming by way of submission. Candido competed on the Ultimate Fighter Season 24, where he lost to Eric Shelton by unanimous decision in the quarterfinals. All six of the Brazilians pro fights have been in his home country of Brazil. The last five were all under the Shooto Americas umbrella.
Carlos Candelario is also undefeated as a professional. All but one of his six victories ended inside the distance. His last fight was at CES MMA 44 where he finished Timothy Wheeler in the first round. Candelario’s last five fights were all under the Classic Entertainment and Sports umbrella. The twenty-six year old has also fought for Reality Fighting.
Austin Arnett (15-2) vs. Brandon Davis (7-2) – Featherweight 145 lbs.
Austin Arnett started his professional career going 2-2, but since then the twenty-five year old has rattled off thirteen straight wins. His most recent win occurred at ExciteFight – Conquest of the Cage where he submitted Jake Jokela in the second round. Fighting out of Sik-Jitsu Fighting Systems in Spokane, Washington, Arnett boasts twelve finishes in fifteen pro victories. Arnett has fought for a number of promotions including: Thunder and Lightning, CageSport (CS), Conquest of the Cage (COTC), ExciteFight, King of the Cage (KOTC) and Titan Fighting Championship (Titan FC).
Brandon Davis got off to a slow start as a professional fighter by going 1-2. Since then he has won his last six fights. His most recent win came at FFI Blood and Sand XXII where he finished Randy Hedderick in the first round. Fighting out of the Alan Belcher MMA Club, Davis has three wins by knockout to go along with two by submission. The twenty-seven year old has fought under the Summit Fighting Championships (SFC) banner seven times and both Square Ring Promotions and Fight Force International (FFI) once.
John Castaneda (13-2) vs. Cheyden Leialoha (6-0) – Bantamweight 135 lbs.
John Castaneda enters his fight against Leialoha on an eight fight winning streak. His most recent fight was at Combate Americas – Combate 14 where he beat Chris Beal by TKO in the second round. Castaneda fights out of The Academy and boats ten finishes in thirteen professional wins. Six of the wins are by KO/TKO to go along with four submissions. The twenty-five year old already has fifteen pro fights under his belt, but has only fought for four different promotions. The first six fights of his career were with Driller Promotions. He has also fought once for Resurrection Fighting Alliance, twice for King of the Cage (KOTC) and his previous six fights were all under the Combate Americas banner.
Cheyden Leialoha is 6-0 in his career as a pro fighter. He has one knockout to go along with three submissions in his six wins. His most recent win came at AFC 132 where he beat Aaron Ulroan by TKO. The twenty-three year old Gracie Technics product has fought for Destiny MMA, Shogun Fights (SF), Victory Fighting Championship (VFC), X-1 World Events – Hawaii and Alaska Fighting Championship (AFC).
Enjoy the fights!
CHECK OUT LAST WEEK’S ARTICLE: Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series Week 3 Preview: Grocke breaks down all five fights
Leave a Reply