Perez scraps grappling game-plan to knock out Paxton and seal UFC contract

Cristian Perez secured a UFC contract at Dana White’s Contender Series 2026 Week 2 by knocking out Logan Paxton in the first round, dropping him twice before the finish in a lightweight bout that showcased a deliberate shift in strategy from the 27-year-old Peruvian.

Perez (15-2) had come up short on his first DWCS appearance last year, losing to Manoel Sousa in a bout where his game-plan centred on takedowns and grappling. He returned to the regional circuit, picked up a first-round knockout, and earned a second shot — this time with a very different blueprint.

“The last time the game plan was exactly that: take him down and try to finish my opponent,” Perez said in his post-fight interview. “I feel that I do have a very solid purple belt in jiu-jitsu. But we needed to change the game plan. When you come here, Dana doesn’t want you to come here just to win the fight; he wants you to come here and impress, to show a savage, that you’re an animal. And that’s what we came here for: to fight and put on a show for everyone.”

Perez, nicknamed “Puas”, acknowledged he remains confident in his ground game, but understood that UFC CEO Dana White prizes highlight-reel finishes on Contender Series above all else. The striking clinic he put on against Paxton delivered exactly that.

The reward went beyond a roster spot. White extended an immediate offer for Perez to compete at Noche UFC 4 on 12 September at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona — a rapid turnaround that underlines just how much the performance impressed UFC brass.

For Perez, the redemption arc from his first DWCS defeat to a contract and a marquee event booking took less than a year, driven by a willingness to adapt and a performance that left no doubt about his finishing instincts.