Dana White’s Contender Series 89: Grading the winners

Week 3 of Dana White’s Contender Series (2026) took place on Tuesday in Las Vegas, and we’re grading the winners from the five-fight card, which streamed on ESPN+ from the UFC Apex. With a simple but digestible format that has had the MMA fanbase responding, this series has shown to have legs in multiple ways while serving as a crockpot for contenders the UFC matchmakers can use to fill their roster for future events. With that trend in mind, I once again will be taking a look at the winning fighters, regardless of whether or not they won a UFC contract, and grading their performances in regard to their probability of returning to a UFC stage.

Nick Galanti

• Weight class: Middleweight

Nick Galanti kicked off the night with a quick finish, making quick work of Carlos Petruzzella.

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Even though we didn’t get to see much of Galanti, it’s hard to deny him the standard A for understanding the assignment and clearing the traditional bar that Dana White has set.

Galanti was the latest CFFC middleweight champion and trains alongside names like Sean Brady at Marquez MMA. Galanti also trains his Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Dante Rivera and has some solid back-taking skills that he’ll have a chance to show off in the big show.

I’m not surprised to see Galanti given a contract, considering that you can plug and play him against anyone from Lee Yi-sak to Donte Johnson.

Ronald Humphrey

• Weight class: Welterweight

Checking all the boxes in style, Ronald Humphrey earns the ever-elusive A+ grade.

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Although prolonged wars that require fighters to overcome adversity can be more valuable as far as information goes, this sort of well-rounded and violent showcase leaves little doubt as to where Humphrey belongs.

Don’t get me wrong: We still need to see Humphrey in deeper waters against more proven competition, but the man has been passing all the eye tests since taping him before his last fight with the CFFC.

Given Humphrey’s propensity to deliver damage in every phase of the fight, seeing Dana White get excited to sign the second-generation MMA fighter came as little surprise.

Despite Humphrey already having a lot of hype on his back, I hope that the UFC matchmakers don’t rush him too fast up the ladder.

But with the UFC President proclaiming his desire to turn Humphrey around quickly, I’d expect to see the 25-year-old prospect soon facing anyone from Theodor Berggren to Nikolay Veretennikov.

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Sean Clancy Jr.

• Weight class: Welterweight

Speaking of impressive welterweight prospects, it was also hard to deny Sean Clancy Jr. your standard A for clinically taking apart Gary Balletto.

Although Balletto and his deceptively effective southpaw jab appeared to have some stymying moments early, Clancy Jr.’s shot selection and well-rounded game had his smaller foe outmatched from Jump Street.

Cutting his teeth over in the Cage Warriors circuit (where he recently won their vacant welterweight title), Clancy Jr. may be Scotland’s best hope for future championship contendership in the UFC.

Regardless of Clancy Jr.’s potential ceiling, I’d love to see him in an all-action affair opposite someone like Levan Chokheli.

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Guilherme Uriel

• Weight class: Heavyweight

Despite not getting to see much in this heavyweight showdown, I still found it difficult to deny Guilherme Uriel the standard A for passing the show-set bar of quick finishes in what was his second swing at bat.

Having the unfortunate luck of drawing Josh Hokit the first time around, Uriel was able to find a more familiar result this season by securing a submission that was almost given to him on a silver platter. Nevertheless, credit to Uriel for having the smarts not to surrender position to finish said submission.

Although submission skills are still a cheat code at heavyweight, I’m curious whether Uriel can make light heavyweight given his smaller frame. But if the Brazilian ends up staying at heavyweight, then I expect him to fill out a card before year’s end, likely against names like Jovan Leka or R.J. Harris.

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Alex Apodaca

• Weight class: Women’s Bantamweight

Coming through as one of the biggest underdogs in MMA history and winning some hearts over in the process, Alex Apodaca earns the ever-elusive A+ from me for scoring the upset against Bella Mir.

Historical upset from a numbers perspective aside, Apodaca also deserves love for the skills and composure she showed for the full fifteen minutes. From underrated teeps to the body to beautiful utilizations of wrist controls to escape negative positions, there’s a lot to appreciate about Apodaca from a technical perspective.

Her finishing potency may not jump off the page, but I was very happy to see Dana White both admit his bias toward Mir while also praising Apodaca.

Women’s bantamweight finally seems to have a new wave of talent steadily coming up from the back end, and could see Apodaca serving as a Christian Rodriguez-like archetype for the UFC matchmakers (who will likely book her as a perennial B-side against names like Michelle Montague or Nina Milosevic).

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Dana White’s Contender Series 89: Grading the winners