Six UFC contracts awarded at DWCS Season 10 Week 7, including two losing fighters in historic first

Dana White’s Contender Series reached a milestone on Tuesday night when six fighters left the UFC APEX in Las Vegas with contracts after Week 7 of Season 10 — including two of the evening’s losers, a first in the show’s history.

The headline result of the night came in the main event, where Norbert Novenyi Jr. outlasted Theo Haig by decision. Novenyi entered as the card’s heaviest favourite and nearly ended things immediately, dropping Haig in the opening seconds. Haig recovered, took Novenyi’s back and controlled much of the first round on the ground, visibly draining the highly-touted prospect. Novenyi steadied himself to win a cautious, forgettable decision, but his underwhelming showing was enough to cost him a contract. Dana White told Novenyi he wanted to see him return for another shot in the future — making him the only winner of the night to leave without a deal.

The co-main event produced one of the wilder fights of the season. Ares welterweight champion Alvi Dasuyev defeated Jaden Ortega by unanimous decision, but both men earned contracts. Dasuyev dominated early and scored a knockdown, yet burned himself out trying to finish Ortega, who proved remarkably durable and turned the tide in the second round. Dasuyev dug deep to survive the third, and afterward attributed his fading cardio to jet lag, insisting he would have secured the knockout under fresher conditions.

In the swing bout, flyweight prospect Marcos Degli — backed publicly by UFC welterweight Carlos Prates — submitted Fury FC champion Paris Moran in the second round to claim a contract. Degli struggled to put Moran away early despite taking dominant positions, but eventually secured back control and sunk in a rear-naked choke to seal the finish and earn his place on the UFC roster.

The two contracts awarded to losing fighters — Haig and Ortega — marked an unprecedented moment for the Contender Series, which has served as the UFC’s primary talent pipeline since its launch. No previous episode across the show’s ten seasons had seen the promotion extend deals to fighters on the losing side of the scorecards.