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Dana White’s Contender Series (DWCS) has produced several up-and-coming talent with championship potential including the likes of Sean O’Malley and Maycee Barber, just to name a few.
Now, DWCS is headed out of America for the first time, as the show will be hitting the road to Asia. Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) president, Dana White, announced that he and his matchmakers will be invading the company’s new state-of-the art Performance Institute in Shanghai, China in 2020 to find the next Asian superstar.
“One of my favorite parts of my job is looking for up-and-coming talent. There’s no area in the world right now with more potential MMA talent than Asia,” Dana said previously. “We’re going to use Dana White’s Contender Series to find these fighters, develop them, and give them the opportunity to perform on the biggest stage in combat sports.”
And the timing couldn’t be better, as Weili Zhang — who fights out of Beijing, China — is currently sitting on the championship throne of the women’s Straweight division, and is set to defend her title against former division queen, Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 248 on March 7, 2020.
With UFC making a strong push into the Asian market by building its second Performance Institute in China, and now hosting DWCS in the country, it will be interesting to see how much of an impact it will have on Asian-based promotions such as ONE Championship and RIZIN.