Ramon Taveras, Four Others Join UFC on Week 10 of Dana White’s Contender Series

Ramon Taveras stood toe to toe and fought fire with fire when the stakes were highest.

The Bulldog Boxing export was one of five hopefuls to nail down an Ultimate Fighting Championship contract during Week 10 of Dana White’s Contender Series, as he buried Cortavious Romious with first-round punches on Tuesday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Taveras (9-2, 1-1 DWCS) sank the St. Charles MMA rep 29 seconds into Round 1.

Romious (5-2, 0-1 DWCS) went out on his shield. He cut loose with power punches and body kicks, but left too many defensive holes for his opponent to exploit. Taveras dropped him twice in the middle of violent exchanges, then connected with a devastating left hook that sent him crashing to the canvas in a dazed and confused state. More punches followed, prompting referee Herb Dean to call for the stoppage.

Flyweight Andre Lima, featherweight Connor Matthews, lightweight Marquel Mederos and bantamweight Lucas Rocha are set to join Taveras on the UFC roster.

Team Lucas Mineiro’s Lima stayed undefeated, as he outstruck and outhustled Rickson Thai Zenidim Bueno to a unanimous decision in their three-round flyweight clash. Lima (7-0, 1-0 DWCS) swept the scorecards with matching 30-27 marks from all three members of the cageside judiciary.

A former Hard Combat champion, Bueno (14-2, 0-1 DWCS) was far too passive and spent much of the first two rounds circling around cage with no obvious purpose. Lima remained patient despite his visible frustrations and piled up points with kicks to all levels, a potent jab and a few straight right hands. Bueno engaged his fellow Brazilian in the clinch midway through the third round but had little to offer. Lima met him with close-range knee strikes, executed a takedown and chipped away with hammerfists and short punches from the top. The 24-year-old sat down on a guillotine choke in the waning seconds but could not pull off the desired finish.

Bueno has lost two of his past three fights after starting his career with 13 straight victories.

Meanwhile, New England Cartel’s Matthews leaned on body kicks, takedowns and merciless pressure in claiming a hard-fought unanimous decision over the previously unbeaten Jair Farias in a three-round featherweight scrap. All three cageside judges sided with Matthews (7-1, 1-1 DWCS): 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28.

Farias (10-1, 0-1 DWCS) had his moments, as he pieced together some beautiful three- and four-punch volleys, connected with leg kicks and countered effectively at times. However, Matthews turned the tide with a dominant Round 2. He swarmed the Brazilian with kicks, focused his attack on the body, secured multiple takedowns and even threatened with a reverse triangle choke on the ground. A back-and-forth third round saw an exhausted Farias find renewed purpose with some clean second-wind combinations. Matthews responded with another takedown, briefly progressed to full mount and continued his assault on the Fighting Nerds rep’s midsection with punches and kicks.

Matthews will carry a modest two-fight winning streak into his next assignment.

Further down the card, Factory X’s Mederos put away Issa Isakov with a knee strike and follow-up punches in the first round of their lightweight affair. Mederos (8-1, 1-0 DWCS) brought it to a close 4:09 into Round 1, extending his winning streak to five bouts.

Isakov (12-4, 0-1 DWCS) pursued clinches and takedowns but went nowhere with those efforts. Mederos flummoxed the Soko Training Center export with feints and stance switches, battered the lead leg with kicks and pieced together clean punching combinations. He caught the Isakov with a knee to the head as he ducked in for a takedown, folded him where he stood and slammed the door with punches.

The setback was Isakov’s first since April 1, 2021.

Elsewhere, Renovacao Coari Team’s Rocha wiped out Shooto Brazil champion Davi Bittencourt with a perfectly timed knee strike and follow-up punches in the second round of their bantamweight tilt. Rocha (17-1, 1-0 DWCS) drew the curtain 18 seconds into Round 2.

Bittencourt (14-3, 1-0 DWCS) scored with repeated takedowns and mat returns throughout a one-sided first round. The D.O. Methodology rep advanced to the back on multiple occasions and threatened with a rear-naked choke in the closing seconds but failed to finish what he started. Rocha intercepted him with a beautiful knee to the head during their first exchange in the middle stanza, sent him into a nosedive, trailed him to the canvas and mopped up what was left with unanswered punches.

Rocha, 23, has rattled off six consecutive victories.

Finally, still-green Agoge Combatives product Torrez Finney kept his perfect professional record intact and did so while staring down adversity, as he subdued Yuri Panferov with a rear-naked choke in the second round of their middleweight confrontation. Finney (7-0, 1-0 DWCS) drew the curtain 2:09 into Round 2.

Penferov (6-1, 0-1 DWCS) countered his powerfully built counterpart’s high-amplitude takedowns and clinches with close-range knees and elbows to the side of the head, all while capitalizing on opportunities whenever they separated. He rocked Finney more than once with hooks from both hands but could not nail down the stoppage. Panferov encountered additional resistance on the feet in the middle stanza and absorbed a right hook before conceding another takedown. Finney climbed to the back, made a pass at a face crank, reassessed his options and applied his ground-and-pound. From there, he moved on the choke, tightened his squeeze and forced the tapout.

Finney, 24, has finished six of his first seven opponents.