Since the show first aired in July of 2017, the Dana White Tuesday Night Contender Series (DWTNCS) has provided viewers with entertaining fights, and a first glimpse at UFC hopefuls as they try to impress Dana White and earn themselves a contract. In the first season of the show, Dana White handed out a total of 16 full contracts to fighters who have had varying success in the UFC. 

The biggest standouts from the show so far are, of course, Sean O'Malley, who has since become the face of the show, and Benito Lopez, who dazzled in his UFC debut. The two have combined for a 3-0 record in the UFC so far, but are outliers in that category. Alex Perez has gone under the radar to compile a 2-0 UFC record for himself as well, but take him and O'Malley out of the picture and the overall record plummets pretty heavily. Of the 16 fighters signed, only 14 of them have made their UFC debut as of yet, combining for a combined record of 11-9.

It seems that the DWTNCS signs fighters with two main goals in mind: signing young prospects who can be the face of the company in the future, and signing tough veterans who will make for exciting fights every time. With that in mind, the DWTNCS has succeeded in regards to finding some exciting young prospects (O'Malley and Lopez) and the rest of the signees, while having middling success, have still put on some great fights. A lot of these guys are thrown straight to the dogs, which, for fighters largely making their UFC debuts, a combined record of 11-9 is nothing to scoff at, and generally shows that the UFC has made pretty solid decisions as to who they believe can be a valuable asset to them. If even half of the fighters signed turn out to be solid company standbys, it would be hard to point at the show as anything other than a success. 

Contract Winners: 

Kurt Holobaugh: 0-1

Boston Salmon: 0-0

Sean O'Malley: 2-0

Karl Roberson: 1-1   

Geoffrey Neal: 1-0

Julian Marquez: 1-1

Brandon Davis: 1-2

Mike Rodriguez: 0-1 

Alex Perez: 2-0

Charles Byrd: 1-0

Grant Dawson: 0-0

Benito Lopez: 1-0

Joby Sanchez: 0-1

Matt Frevola: 0-1

Lauren Mueller: 1-0 

Allen Crowder: 0-1

Overall: 11-9

Even if a fighter doesn't earn themselves a contract on the show, their hope for UFC glory isn't necessarily done. Dana White will often bring in guys from the show in on as short-notice replacements, knowing that they'll go down swinging if nothing else, though oftentimes they're simply just meat being thrown at dogs. The only major standout from this group is Julio Arce, who's gone 2-0 in the UFC, though one of those wins was over fellow DWTNCS fighter Dan Ige. His submission over Daniel Teymur in his last fight has shown that he's no fluke, however. 

The overall record for this group could be due to a lot of factors, such as short notice, being brought in as a can to be crushed, or just not having the financial support that many of the people they're fighting have to support their training. Regardless, most of these guys are all making their UFC debuts when they're brought in, which is a difficult situation for any fighter. Overall, they've gone 5-10 in the UFC, which without Arce, plummets even further. Still, many of these fighters have fought multiple times in the UFC, which I doubt they're complaining about after not getting the initial contract on the show.

Not Offered Contracts:

Matt Besette: 0-2

Zu Anyanwu: 0-1

Dan Ige: 1-1

Austin Arnett: 0-2

Julio Arce: 2-0

Ricky Simon: 1-0

Steven Peterson: 1-1

Mike Santiago: 0-3

Overall: 5-10

Overall, that's a combined record of 16-19, which isn't exactly eye-popping, but given the situation a lot of these fighters are coming into the UFC with, isn't as bad as it initially looks. The most encouraging part is that the contract winners at least have a winning record overall after just one year, and some legitimate prospects are beginning to emerge. As the alumns continue to fight, it will be interesting to see if they can learn from their experience and continue to develop.

-UFC 227 will feature DWTNCS alumni:[Alex Perez, Matt Sayles, Ricky Simon, Montel Jackson, and Kevin Holland