Issue 160

November 2017

One fight, one chance to impress the UFC president for a Octagon contract. Welcome to Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series.

A fight needs purpose. Without it, it’s just a fight: pointless, mindless violence. Most fights, thankfully, do have a purpose. It could be money, to claim territory, to settle a dispute. It could be the pursuit of a belt or a trophy. In mixed martial arts, the purpose varies from fight to fight.

At the top end, men and women fight for titles and inordinate sums of money. Meanwhile, lower down the imaginary ladder, they fight for the chance to get higher, one rung at a time – and because it is the only way of achieving any sort of promotion in their chosen profession.

Ultimately, fighters fight in order to improve their lives.

Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series, the new weekly offering on UFC Fight Pass, doesn’t offer a championship belt, nor the kind of paychecks banked by established stars.

What it does promise, we are told, is a shot at a brighter future.

“I love looking for up-and-coming talent,” said White, the UFC President. “This show’s going to give us another opportunity to bring in young fighters we think have the potential to make it in the UFC, or maybe even one day become world champions. It’ll also give some fighters who might be in a slump or on their way out of the organization an opportunity for one last shot.”

To get an idea of how it works, think The Ultimate Fighter, but without the house, drama, speech, bullying and bulls**t. This gets straight to the point – the fights – and sees 10 contenders essentially audition for Dana White, as well as his matchmakers, on a single Tuesday night.

After the dust settles, the two most impressive receive UFC contracts. For them, the chosen ones, this represents a starting point, a leg-up. They are on their way. It plucks them from the MMA dog pound and gives them a loving home; cute puppies, old timers and abandoned mutts alike.

“I heard the show was going to be airing, but it didn’t catch my eye at first,” said Kurt Holobaugh, a featherweight and the first man to headline a show on July 11th. “I was on a three-fight win streak, got a call and was told this could be the fight that gets us in.

They said, ‘You’re going to headline the first episode of Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series and will be fighting Matt Bessette, a well-rounded regional champion. We think it’s a good matchup. You should get a lot of exposure and promotion from it.’ I thought, well, alright. Let’s do it.”

Holobaugh, 30, is no stranger to UFC fans. He had his chance already, some might say, when he lost a decision to Steven Siler at UFC 159 a little over four years ago.

After that, having already dropped a decision to Pat Healy in Strikeforce, he was kicked to the curb and told to improve and rebuild. So that’s precisely what he did. It led the Louisiana-native to a number of regional promotions across America, as well as one in Russia.

He won eight of his next 10 fights. He hoped, nay expected, to one day get another chance.

“I’m the best I’ve ever been right now,” said Holobaugh, who began his martial arts voyage with karate at the age of six. “I’ve been fighting some really high-level guys at Titan FC and finishing guys, too. Of course, like anybody, you have some ups and downs, but you learn from those experiences. I have learned from all my losses, not just the one in the UFC.”

Most who appear on the Contender Series speak from the same well-thumbed page. They were attracted to mixed martial arts for the same reason (because they’d seen the UFC on television) and then dedicated themselves to it for the same reason (to one day reach the UFC).

For some, this show represents their first chance. For others, however, it’s their second, or third. Take Azunna ‘Zulu’ Anyanwu, a heavyweight from Philadelphia, for example. He appeared in week one of the Contender Series having already had a brush with Dana White: Lookin’ for a Fight. He’s also 36 and, by his own admission, short on time.

“I heard about it on a UFC pay-per-view,” Anyanwu said of the show, “but didn’t think anything of it. I then got a call and was told, ‘Hey, we’ve got you on the UFC’s Contender Series.’

"At first, I was kind of hesitant because Dana had seen me on Lookin’ for a Fight. I was the main event and won my fight by knockout, but they took one of my buddies instead. I didn’t blame them, but the UFC aired the show on YouTube and my fight wasn’t even shown. That left a bitter taste in my mouth. I got the only knockout of the night and they didn’t even show me. I thought, man, I’m done with the UFC.

“But then, when this opportunity came up, I had a think about it and thought, yeah, I’ll go out to Vegas. Why not? I was told I’d get in if I won. But I’m sure they say that to everybody.

“Looking back, I probably had low expectations going in. I thought if I beat this guy, that doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll get the contract. The guy I was fighting was the favorite; he was supposed to beat me. But if I knock him out, let’s see what happens.

"I did that and it didn’t happen for me. Maybe they don’t really want me.”

It’s said with a laugh. Most things are. Indeed, even as his career gets more serious, Anyanwu still wears this carefree approach to it – something he calls a

“hobby” – like a badge of honor. “Pretty solid” is how he describes his 18-bout pro MMA career, which includes a 2011 win in Bellator and three Cage Fury FC heavyweight titles. More to do, he says. More to come. But the same applies to Holobaugh and pretty much everyone else pursuing a first or last chance on a Tuesday night in Sin City.

“My last fight was my 30th in a cage and I think I’m at the point where I’m still nervous and excited, but the pressure is no different from fight to fight,” said Holobaugh.

“This last one was definitely make or break, though. It was a big risk because I probably could have sat back and not taken that fight and still got into the UFC on a late-replacement call or something like that. But I knew with that fight I would have a chance to show Dana White and (UFC matchmaker) Sean Shelby what I’ve got, and what I bring to the table. I’m an entertainer. I like to entertain people.”

The risk paid off. Holobaugh didn’t just entertain, he won. Not just any old win, either. He won in spectacular style, finishing CES MMA champion Matt Bessette inside the first round. It was a performance impressive in everyone’s eyes but his own.

“The scary thing is I didn’t even feel that great,” he said. “I felt like my punches were slow, my kicks were slow. I just felt like I was hitting hard, that’s all. When I think I fought a s**tty fight, but still perform, that tells you there is way more to come from me.”

Anyanwu, who appeared earlier in the night, finished his bout with similar conviction. He folded Greg Rebello in the second round and then immediately made a point of approaching Dana White, sat cageside.

Not quite a grovel, more a gentle reminder, Anyanwu told the UFC President he had now witnessed, in person, not one, but two, of his knockout victories.

“I felt his power and was like, OK, this is nothing, I’m just going to stay patient and counter,” recalled ‘Zulu’.

“It was like a sparring match. I was trying out different styles. I felt comfortable in there. I knew I was going to do what I had to do. It was strictly business. Before the fight, everybody was making a big deal about it and saying, ‘Man, you’re going to fight in front of Dana – how do you feel?’ I’m thinking, well, I’ve already done that once before. Also, I know my skill-set. I know how good I am.

“A lot of people on the outside thought he was going to win. He is from Boston. Dana’s from Boston. I believe if he had beaten me he would 100% have gotten the contract. That’s just how it is.”

There’s another laugh. He only half means what he says. But what’s true is that, despite the heartfelt plea, Anyanwu, now 14-4, was again shunned by White when the time came to divvy up contracts.

His win, as impressive as it was, wasn’t enough to usurp the victories by Holobaugh and Boston Salmon – who dominated Ricky Turcios for 15 minutes – which meant it was they, not Anyanwu, who received the chance they all wanted.

“They don’t want me for some reason and I don’t know why,” he said. “A lot of people came up to me and were like, ‘Hey, it’s kind of like you won but also lost.’ On the way back to the hotel, the whole car was silent. We didn’t know how to react.

"I was cool, though. I know how it goes. I’ve been there before. I’m not going to be down about it. Also, the show raised my profile a lot. Hopefully, that interests some other promotions. I’m more of a free-spirited guy. I’m glad I did it.”

As Anyanwu and his team thought of the right words to say, following a bittersweet night, Holobaugh was dipping in and out of clubs and casinos on the Vegas Strip. He had his victory; he had his UFC contract.

“I didn’t have a doubt in my mind I was going to get the contract,” he said. “I celebrated a couple of times with friends and family and a bunch of teammates. We went out, we hit the Strip and we had fun.

"When we walked out of the club, the sun was coming up. It was a pretty crazy night. I then came home and celebrated with the rest of my family.”

Since his breakout night, Holobaugh has seen his knockout replayed over and over, both online and on UFC pay-per-view broadcasts, and shakes his head and rubs his eyes each and every time.

“They’ve had some good knockouts on the series, but they are showing my knockout a lot,” he says. “That’s building exposure and making fans and people from the UFC want to see me fight.”

He has also been pestering. First, he wanted to fight at UFC 216 card in Las Vegas and then, when that seemed unlikely, he eyed up the rumored show at Madison Square Garden. “Getting kind of anxious,” he calls it. It’s a way of saying he wants to capitalize on the moment and this time isn’t content with just one rung on the ladder. Been there, done that: he wants the next.

“I want to be in incredible shape for this next UFC run,” Holobaugh, 18-4, explains. “I can make a run for the title. If you look at the rankings, I’m number 22 in the world at featherweight. I’m ranked above 50% of the roster. One fight and I can crack the top 15 or 10. Get me a good opponent.”

Anyanwu, on the other hand, has no choice but to be more philosophical – call it realistic – about his fighting future.

“I’ll stay ready, in case the UFC come calling, and that might happen, but I’m not going to get too caught up in that,” he said. “When I first started, it was the UFC or nothing for me. But now it has changed.

"There are so many other promotions. Now I’m thinking it’s all about just reaching the mainstream, whether that’s with the UFC, Bellator, ONE Championship or someone else. I want to use MMA to do other things.

“For me to fight for the UFC they would have to really offer me a great fight. They’d have to give me a top 10 guy. I want to be seen on the main card. I’m not young anymore. I’m in my mid-thirties. You guys ignored me, but you’re going to want me in a minute. Be careful you’re not too late.”

Testament to the growth and current popularity of the sport, a chance in MMA no longer means what it once did.

It can still open doors and lead to great things, yes, but there’s usually more than one and they can be found far and wide. Ironically, if Dana White’s latest brainchild tells us anything, it’s that even the ones who miss out walk away with their heads still held high.