Dana White's Contender Series 23: Grading the winners

Dana White’s Contender Series 23 took place Tuesday in Las Vegas, and we’re grading the winners from the five-fight card, which streamed on ESPN+ from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

With a refreshing but digestible format that has had the MMA fanbase responding, this series has shown to have legs in multiple ways while serving as a crockpot for contenders whom the UFC matchmakers can use for future events. So, with that trend in mind, I will once again be taking a look at the winning fighters regardless of whether or not they won a UFC contract, grading their performances in regards to their probability of returning to a UFC stage.

Dwight Joseph

Weight class: Bantamweight
Result:
Grade: C+

Summary: Don’t let the letter grade fool you, as I still contend that Dwight Joseph arguably over-performed in this spot against Jay Perrin.

Joseph, who came in as a slight underdog to Perrin, found himself taken down early and forced into exchanges with the slightly more experienced man. Nevertheless, Joseph was able to explode back to his feet and quietly punctuate the striking stanzas with counter lefts and body kicks.

Come the second round, Joseph’s counters and kicks – which came from awkward, southpaw angles – seemed to stun Perrin to the body, forcing the 26-year-old to shoot right into a guillotine choke that, thankfully for him, wasn’t fully synched up.

To his credit, Perrin had his head in the right place by looking to control position on a more aggressive fighter, but Joseph was good about diligently working his way to standing positions and separations whenever Perrin attempted to stifle him.

Perrin ended up getting things to the floor in the third, securing Joseph’s back for some solid control time. But Joseph, though finally starting to show signs of fatigue, was able to reverse the position and get back in the fight enough to edge out the judge’s scorecards.

Although the African southpaw came through as my underdog to upset, I ultimately agree with White that Joseph, at now just 5-0, could use a bit more seasoning before making the jump to the big show.