The Contender Series standards get lower by the year, but the show still turns out some promising talent now and again. On this edition of “New Blood,” the series that single-handedly keeps my Fight Pass subscription intact, we look at a pair of profoundly different finishers.
As always, the most recent Contender Series season can be found on ESPN+.
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Marquel Mederos
Weight Class: Lightweight
Age: 27
Record: 8-1 (6 KO)
Notable Victories: Issa Isakov, Tracy Reeder
Unbeaten since his third professional bout, factoryX’s Mederos spent virtually his entire pre-Contender Series career in Fury FC, leaving only to score a Feb. 2023 knockout in FAC. He ultimately reached Contender Series the following October and punched his Octagon ticket with a vicious knee knockout of Issa Isakov.
There’s no other word for Mederos’ approach than “stylish.” The guy styles on people. Constant stance switches, nonstop feints, razor-sharp straight punches, thudding snap kicks, and crushing calf kicks combine to wear down opponents into nothing. The secret ingredient that ties it all together is range management — Mederos never smothers his own work, keeping things at the ideal distance even when putting the pedal to the metal.
It’s remarkable how quickly Mederos’ misdirection and versatility can neutralize opponents. Isakov started strong with a good takedown attempt and control time, but once Mederos got into gear, it turned into target practice. Isakov seemed too befuddled to even try and throw shots, ultimately telegraphing a long-distance level change that Mederos punished with a knee.
Mederos has two noteworthy weaknesses. The first, which Michael Murphy exploited to good effect in April 2023, is that he doesn’t strike well off the back foot. Murphy simply refused to respect Mederos’ striking, and though Mederos did generally do a good job of circling off instead of letting his back hit the fence, he didn’t have much to offer besides some well-timed counter rights.
The other is that, while his range management is quite good, he has a habit of nakedly switching stance while in punching range. For as often as he’ll smoothly transition from orthodox to southpaw with an overhand right, sometimes he’ll just square up step forward with his hands down, which gives me uncomfortable reminders of Marcin Prachnio walking face-first into Sam Alvey’s right hand.
When your legs are your only defense, you have to be on point.
What bailed out Mederos against Murphy was his stout grappling game. He has an excellent sprawl (bolstered by that range management), a variety of trips from the clinch, and even a blast double to mix up things. That said, his top game isn’t particularly fearsome — he doesn’t throw much ground-and-pound unless he’s got his man hurt, he couldn’t cinch up an arm-triangle choke on Murphy, and he’s not overly difficult to get out from underneath.
Mederos is definitely a strong addition to the roster and looks a cut above the ever-falling Contender Series mean. I do think he’s in trouble against Landon Quinones, though, because “Lone Wolf” can land almost 10 significant strikes per minute and refuses to take a step back, so it’s hard to see Mederos putting him in the spin cycle before Quinones gets a head of steam and starts hunting him across the cage.
His Fury FC bouts are on Fight Pass.
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Thomas “The Train” Petersen
Weight Class: Heavyweight
Age: 28
Record: 8-1 (7 KO, 1 SUB)
Notable Victories: Chandler Cole, Vernon Lewis
Petersen racked up five amateur wins and five professional wins before suffering an upset loss to Waldo Cortes-Acosta in 2022. A pair of victories in Legacy Fighting Alliance (LFA) put him back on track, after which he dominated The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) veteran, Chandler Cole, to claim a contract on Contender Series.
At the risk of sounding reductive, Peterson is your prototypical big Midwestern wrestler. His gameplan is simple: push forward behind straight punches, tie up against the fence, muscle them to the mat, then beat the daylights out of them. He’s got a variety of methods with which to take things south, with an apparent preference for body lock trips and single-legs, and possesses genuinely nasty ground-and-pound. He only needs a bit of space to deal significant damage, as seen when he slept Richard Foster without even being fully postured.
Even if the takedown isn’t there, Peterson is reasonably sharp on the feet, showing decent boxing and some brutal clinch knees. He used to rely on big, two-fisted blitzes to force opponents back and set up the clinch, but he seems to be growing more patient and willing to work behind the jab. That said, he can still get caught up in a slugfest, which allowed the extremely undersized Cole to land a solid flurry.
His big weakness at the moment is his extremely square stance, which leaves him vulnerable to straight punches and body shots. Cortes-Acosta exploited this weakness to tattoo him with jabs and crosses, ultimately putting Petersen down late in the third round.
Still, a huge Heavyweight with a strong wrestling pedigree is always going to be a threat. He’s no Cole Konrad, but he’s definitely no Chris Tuchscherer, either. He’s got some technical depth to his game and a decent gas tank despite a fluffy physique, not to mention genuine finishing ability. As for his debut, it’s a reasonably stiff test. Jamal Pogues is the better boxer and has good takedown defense, but he’s also carrying a lot of extra weight and seemed to completely give up against Mick Parkin.
His LFA bouts are on Fight Pass.
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