Unbeaten Phenom Teases Debut UFC Fight After Impressing Dana White With 19-Second KO

One of the most highly-touted contract winners from this year’s Dana White’s Contender Series has officially signed on for his debut fight in the UFC.

Now in its tenth year, the most recent season of DWCS wrapped up this week and saw Dana White hand out contracts to four of the five winning fighters on Week 10.

A total of 46 fighters inked deals with the UFC over ten weeks of action, and fans have already seen several of those contract winners successfully debut in the UFC not long after impressing the UFC boss.

Akbar Abdullaev Was Booked for DWCS After Dominant ONE Championship Run

Of the many top prospects booked to compete on DWCS this year, perhaps none was as credentialed and highly-touted as undefeated lightweight Akbar Abdullaev.

After going 8-0 to start his professional MMA career, Abdullaev joined ONE Championship in 2023 and dispatched his first two opponents in under a minute.

The 29-year-old ultimately went 5-0 against high-level competition in ONE Championship and also defeated reigning titleholder Kai Tang at ONE Fight Night 27, but Abdullaev unfortunately missed weight ahead of that fight and was ineligible to win the belt.

19-Second Knockout Secured UFC Contract from Dana White

Boasting a 100% finishing rate across his 13 victories, most combat sports fans felt that the UFC should have just signed Abdullaev outright when he moved on from ONE Championship this year.

Instead, the unbeaten phenom was booked to compete on Week 6 of DWCS, where he dispatched Ednilson Santos in just 19 seconds after Santos stepped in on short notice to replace Anthony Figueroa.

It was no surprise when White awarded Abdullaev a UFC contract following the event, and the 19-second knockout still stands out as arguably the most impressive finish of this year’s DWCS slate.

Akbar Abdullaev Teases Highly-Anticipated Debut UFC Fight

Only a month removed from that impressive showing, Abdullaev revealed this week that he’s already signed a contract to make his highly-anticipated UFC debut.

Given his finishing pedigree and the fact that he’s already proven himself against high-level competition in ONE Championship, it will be interesting to see who Abdullaev will meet for his first UFC fight and how quickly the promotion will try to bring him along in a stacked lightweight division.

The 29-year-old was admittedly a massive favorite to get his hand raised against Santos, but the recently-concluded season of DWCS did see another massive favorite in Bella Mir fall short of expectations when she dropped a unanimous decision to Alex Apodaca.