Contender Series is back for the 2024 season, and it is looking like one of the best season's yet. Renowned prospects from all over the world will be competing this year and I strongly believe that this season will be better than previous years. Kicking off the season is Week 1, which features multiple fights which are guaranteed to be chaos. Contender Series will be broadcast every Tuesday night on ESPN+ for the next 10 weeks.

MANSUR ABDUL-MALIK (5-0) vs. WES SCHULTZ (6-1) – Middleweight

Headlining the first Contender Series event of the year are two middleweight wrestlers with different strengths. Mansur Abdul-Malik is a super athletic with crazy power who puts 110% into everything he does. Wes Schultz is a lot more patient and has better cardio from what we have seen. The biggest concern in this fight is the cardio and experience of Mansur. He has all the ability and the power but he is all gas no breaks. So far that hasn't mattered as he has won every fight in his career by first round finish, but we have seen fighters like him before not find the finish in round 1 and gas out. That could potentially happen here as Schultz has proven to have good cardio. I don't like the take down defense that Schultz showed in his fight against Dylan Budka. Budka was able to take down and control Schultz without too much problems, and Schultz even pulled guard at moments. You cannot do that against Mansur as he is much more dangerous on top than Budka. If Schultz doesn't make Mansur work hard for the takedown, he's going to be in trouble. If you are picking Schultz to win this fight, you are hoping he can survive the first round and Mansur gasses out. I do think Mansur's power will be too much and I think he will find an early takedown and win using his viscous ground and pound.

Pick: Mansur Abdul-Malik by 1st round KO/TKO.

SHORT NOTICE UPDATE: MENG DING (34-8) vs. RAMI HAMED (12-3) – Welterweight

To my understanding Hamed has taken this fight on a weeks notice. He has been very inactive and his last few fights have been against low level competition so hard to tell how good he really is. Meng Ding has clearly been improving and will be the better striker. I think he finds the KO here. I thought he would have lost to Islam Dulatov and this is a much nicer match up. Meng Ding medium confidence.

Pick: Meng by 2nd round KO/TKO.

BRUNO LOPES (12-1) vs. MIKHEIL SAZHINIANI (13-2) – Light Heavyweight

Bruno Lopes sold hard in the last season. He was expected to beat Brendson Ribeiro easily but instead stood and traded with him and got knocked out. That lass has also aged poorly as Ribeiro is now 0-2 in the UFC. This is a very similar match up again, but Sazhiniani is a bit smaller. Lopes is a decent well rounded light heavyweight. He has big power and also has great grappling. He was exposed by Ribeiro for being slow on the feet though. Sazhiniani is a striker who crashes forwards and throws combination in volume. His fights are very fun to watch but is mostly him beating up lower level competition. After Lopes' poor performance last year he has made it very difficult to trust him but as long he doesn't get knocked out he should win. I think he may go to his grappling in this fight but Sazhiniani has shown that he can wrestle in his fight against Abdula Isaev. If Lopes fights smart and doesn't engage in a brawl with Sazhiniani he should win as I do think that he is the better fighter overall. He should find most of the success in this fight by mixing up his striking with his wrestling, which I think he does and then finds a submission.

Pick: Bruno Lopes by 2nd round submission.

SHORT NOTICE UPDATE: JOSE DELGADO (7-1) vs. ERNIE JUAREZ (8-0) – Featherweight

Once again, I think that Delgado has accepted this fight on about a week's notice. I actually think that this is a better fight for Juarez than the fight against Icaro Brito was. However I do think Delgado can exploit the weaknesses that Juarez on the feet in the same way that Brito would have. Delgado is massive for featherweight. He has a very odd striking style where he can be hit, but it should still be better than Juarez' striking. Delgado also wrestles a lot which I don't think will be a bad thing here. I think this fight takes place on the feet and Delgado lands the better shots and may eventually find a finish. Being short notice it is risky as I have to assume he has a big weight cut. Delgado low confidence.

Pick: Jose Delgado by 2nd round KO/TKO.

AN TUAN HO (6-0) vs. LONE'ER KAVANAGH (6-0) – Flyweight

This is one of the best fights to start off the season. I love this fight but it is a shame that someone has to lose. Both guys are young prospects. Ho is only 23 years old and Kavanagh is 25. Both guys represent countries from Asia and I think this might be the first time two Asian fighters compete against each other on the Contender Series. An Tuan Ho is Vietnamese and trains at the MMA Lab in U.S.A., and Lone'er Kavanagh is Chinese and trains at Great Britain Top Team. Both guys are very fast flyweights and there is an argument to be made about who is faster. I actually think that Lone'er Kavanagh is faster on the feet than An Tuan Ho but another analyst who I respect disagrees with me. The way I see this fight going is Lone'er Kavanagh wanting to keep the fight on the feet where I believe he has an advantage, and An Tuan Ho looking to mix up some grappling. I like Ho as a prospect a lot but I don't think he is ready just yet. It is easy to tell that he has potential which can be hard to spot in MMA, but he still makes small mistakes that I think could cost him in this fight. Kavanagh is a striker who uses his speed very well. He has very quick boxing with great timing and counters. He has shown good wrestling defense so far but that will definitely be tested in this fight. Lone'er's training partners are claiming that his grappling is very underrated so we might get to see that in this fight, but I'd like to see him strike for the full 15 minutes. If Lone'er can keep the fight on the feet I like his chances to land more volume over three rounds and take home a decision win. Either way, this is a great fight and I am very much looking forward to it.

Pick: Lone'er Kavanagh by decision.