Breaking Down The Numbers And Forecasting What May Come From This Season’s New Additions
By E. Spencer Kyte • Dec. 26, 2024
The Dana White’s Contender Series Class of ’24 has a chance to be special.
After the number of contracts handed out each season increased each successive year from the original 16 awarded over the first season’s eight-week run through the record-setting 46 athletes added to the roster in Season 7, the most recent installment of the annual talent-search series produced a slight decrease in new additions to the roster.
Carlos Prates punches Mitch Ramirez in their welterweight fight during Dana White's Contender Series season seven, week four at UFC APEX on August 29, 2023 in Las Vegas, NV (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)
There were 42 contracts awarded over the course of Season 8, and while that is the lowest total since Season 5, the outlook for this year’s graduating class might be better than any group that has passed through the UFC APEX thus far.