Dana White’s Contender Series, Season 7 roster filling up for summer 2023 launch

Dana White’s Contender Series, Season 7 is in the works.

DWCS debuted in 2017 with an eight-episode inaugural season. Season 2 was held in 2018 with eight episodes, followed by a three-episode DWCS: Brasil. In 2019, DWCS was extended to 10 episodes for its third season. The length was repeated in 2020, 2021, and 2022.

Each season, the number of fighters signed has increased. Thus far, the show has produced UFC notables including Sean O’Malley, Maycee Barber, Geoff Neal, Ryan Spann, Sodiq Yusuff, Jamahal Hill, Taila Santos, Johnny Walker, Alex Perez, Bo Nickal, Jailton Almeida, Jack Della Maddalena, and Marina Rodriguez among others.

In recent weeks, the UFC matchmakers have been gearing up for a summer DWCS return, expected to launch Aug. 8. Athletes and matchups have slowly but surely been booked. The number of episodes for Season 7 is not yet known.

Scroll below to see the latest athletes and fights booked, which have been confirmed by MMA Junkie or posted about by the fighters involved. This list will be updated as more fighters and matchups come to light.

Week 1 - Aug. 8

• Middleweight: Cesar Almeida (3-0 vs. Lucas Fernando (9-1) (MMA Mania)

• Lightweight: Bogdan Grad (11-1) vs. Tom Nolan (5-0) (MMA Junkie)

• Heavyweight: Caio Machado (7-1-1) vs. Kevin Szaflarski (11-1)

• Bantamweight: Junior Cortez (7-2) vs. Payton Talbott (5-0) (MMA reporter Shawn Bitter)

• Flyweight: Kevin Borjas (8-1) vs. Victor Dias (11-2) (MMA Fighting)

Week 2 - Aug. 15

Week 3 - Aug. 22

Week 4 - Aug. 29

Week 5 - Sept. 5

• Women’s flyweight: Corinne Laframboise (8-4) vs. TBA

• Light heavyweight: Bruno Lopes (11-0) vs. Brendson Ribeiro (14-5) (MMA Junkie)

• Featherweight: Jean Silva (10-2) vs. Kevin Vallejos (11-0)

• Women’s bantamweight: Rainn Guerrero (5-1) vs. TBA

• Bantamweight: Serhiy Sidey (9-1) vs. Ramon Taveras (8-1)

• Middleweight: Chad Hanekom (9-2) vs. Cam Rowston (8-2) (MMA Junkie)

Week 6 - Sept. 12

• Heavyweight: Jhonata Diniz (7-1) vs. Eduardo Neves (5-0) (MMA reporter Shawn Bitter)

• Lightweight: James Llontop (13-2) vs. Malik Lewis (6-1) (ESPN Deportes)

• Featherweight: A.J. Cunningham (10-2) vs. Steven Nguyen (8-1) (MMA Mania)

• TBA vs. TBA

• TBA vs. TBA

Week 7 - Sept. 19

Week 8 - Sept. 26

Week 9 - Oct. 3

• Flyweight: Davi Bittencourt (14-3) vs. Luis Rocha (16-1) (Tapology)

• Bantamweight: Victor Hugo Silva (23-4) vs. Eduardo Matias Torres (16-1) (MMA reporter Steve Duncan)

• TBA vs. TBA

• TBA vs. TBA

• TBA vs. TBA

Week 10 - Oct. 10

• TBA vs. TBA

• TBA vs. TBA

• TBA vs. TBA

• TBA vs. TBA

• TBA vs. TBA

Confirmed fighters without dates

Story originally appeared on MMA Junkie