Kicking the 2025 season was a strange fighting night Candidate Seriessome stinks, one sensational knockout, and one of the most intentional fouls you’ve ever seen.
In the evening feature fight, Illian Bafia gave a unanimous decision victory over Nimeas Santana in one of the strangest battles. Candidate Series history. Early in the fight, Santana secured a takedown, where she delivered a blatant headbutt in Boo Affia’s eyes. Judge Jason Herzog stopped the action and took the point from Santana. But from there, the fight was strange, neither person committed to many crimes or won a boafia slippery decision. UFC CEO Dana White then ripped both fighters, Santana, due to a deliberate foul, and even one of the judges who won the match 30-26.
In the penultimate fight in the evening, Ty Miller made a unanimous decision against Jimmy Drago with a fun scrap. Miller, only 24 years old, is still young in his MMA career, but looks like an octagonal veteran, using sharp jabs and footwork to keep Drago at range and annoyed him with a 15-minute long shot. Drago was durable, eating lots of shots, proving that he never went down, but he wiped out the cards. The victory moved Miller 6-0 in his professional career and won a contract from Dana White.
In the third match in the evening, Baysangur Susurkaev proved he deserves to be the favourite of the night’s biggest bet, knocking out Murtaza Talha in the first round. Susulkayev, Kamza Chimaev’s training partner, informed the fight briefly and struggled early with Tarha’s hard nose grappling, but after descending the fence and returning to space, he defeated the front kick to Tarha’s body on the floor. Susurkaev added a style point on foot from KO and was easy to receive a contract from Dana White who said “made Tuesday.”
In the second evening match, Radley Da Silva gave a unanimous decision victory over undefeated prospect George Mangos, extending his winning streak for eight consecutive years. Da Silva controlled most of his actions in the fight against excellent wrestling and solid grappling, but was unable to produce many attacks. Mangos also had a moment in grappling, taking over his back for most of the final round, but was unable to capitalize, with Dasilva taking 29-28 on the scorecard. The two attacked drastically in just 28 minutes and 15 minutes after the show, and Dana White rejected Da Silva and told her to come back with a more victory.
In the opening battle in the evening, Yuri Panferov defeated Christopher Ewat and brought home the unanimous decision of the fierce battle. Panferov was an excellent fighter at every stage, squealing Ewarts with his feet in boxing, mixing up takedowns to control the pace of the fight. Ewert digs deep in the third round but was unable to change momentum, and in the end Panferov wiped out all three rounds with every scorecard. Despite his dominant performance, Dana White was not interested in Panferov’s services and was unable to offer a contract.