LIVE: DWCS Week 9 Results (Islam Dulatov, Artem Vakhitov, Kody Steele, et al)

Val Dewar

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LIVE: DWCS Week 9 Results (Islam Dulatov, Artem Vakhitov, Kody Steele, et al) image

GLORY Kickboxing

Artem Vakhitov vs Alex Pereira 2.

The penultimate week of this 2024 season of Dana White's Contender Series begins at 8:00pm EDT/5:00pm PDT, live from the UFC Apex in Nevada Las Vegas.

This episode features several notable fighters like kickboxing champion Artem Vakhitov, highly touted Chechnyan-German wrestle-boxer Islam Dulatov, and American boxer/grappler Kody Steele.

With one week left in the season and several fighters signed on every episode so far, the athletes gave it their all in search of a UFC contract.

Tune in as The Sporting News brings you live updates throughout the five-fight card and the annoucement of contract winners at the end of the night.

 

Sean Gauci vs Anthony Drilich

This battle of Australian flyweights stayed highly entertaining from start to finish, with Drilich starting strong with his striking on the backfoot and defending every takedown. Gauci made it competitive in the round two and landed two takedowns, but could get no control time.

The final round was again competitive, with Drilich landing more but Gauci closing the bout with a takedown, big ground strikes, and a string of obscenities directed at his opponent as time expired.

The boss indicated his appreciaton for the talented flyweights. The decision could have gone either way but in the end Sean Gauci won rounds two and three, taking the victory on the scorecards.

With a past victory over former title challenger Steve Erceg, Gauci has a good starting point for his UFC career.

 

Islam Dulatov vs Vanilto Antunes

Islam 'The Ripper' Dulatov came into his Contender Series bout having not lost since his pro debut in 2017. Sitting at 10-1 coming into this one, that means a win over Antunes would make eleven. 

The fighter out of Dusseldorf blitzed his Brazilian counterpart early and hurt him, but paused to try and take his back after Vanilto covered up against the fence. He would continue to mix up striking and wrestling, especially showing more of his blazing-fast hands.

It all came to an end before long. Antunes could not keep up with Dulatov's speed; before the first round was halfway done he got set up for the perfect right elbow from Islam which put him to sleep.

That highlight reel knockout will ensure his spot in the contract-winners' circle at the end of the night, and propel his career forward in a big way due to the stage.

 

Mario Pinto vs Lucas Camacho

In the only battle of two undefeated prospects on the card,  LFL heavyweight champion Mario Pinto finished foe Lucas Camacho in the first two minutes with a beautiful left hook.

At 9-0, and with an athleticism unlike that of many overweight light-heavyweights posturing as heavyweights, Camacho has serious potential in the UFC if he can keep finishing fights like that. 

 

Kody Steele vs Chasen Blair

Popular undefeated 7-0 Fury FC fighter Kody Steele, who has also competed against some big names in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, won impressively against Chasen Blair with a second round TKO.

Steele took an early lead with good boxing, but Blair did well through the first three minutes of the second round, fighting off the back foot and nearly outlanding Steele two to one. However, Steele kept going to the body on Chasen and eventually one liver shot was just too much for him to handle.

Kody pounced on top and pounded away but his foe was in no state to fight back. With a big finish like that, he is also likely to recieve a contract at the end of the night. 

 

Artem Vakhitov vs Islem Masraf

Despite being primarily a striker, Islem Masraf shot multiple takedowns on the former GLORY kickboxing champ Artem Vakhitov. The Russian largely dealt well with the Frenchman's attempts.

Late in the first round, Vakhitov unleashed a series of right hands when having his foe trapped against the fence. One of them sent Islem's eyes towards the top of his head, but his legs remained upright, albeit wobbly, until a few uppercuts finished the job.

With that knockout Vakhitov improves to just 3-1 as an MMA fighter, but he has a 23-6 kickboxing record to shore up his slim experience in mixed martial arts. Still, he will be one of the greenest UFC fighters in one way, and at age 33 he has to develop his skills while making a beeline for the title, where he may run into his former two-time foe Alex Pereira, one day.

Val Dewar

Val Dewar Photo

Val was initiated into Steelers Nation from the moment he was born — his first memory is a game vs. New England from when "Slash" was QB — and doing sports writing has always been a dream career for him. In 2022 he broke into the industry by writing about combat sports for Cageside Press, and now has the opportunity to continue that work with TSN as an MMA writer, as well as get his feet wet on the Steelers beat.