Contender Series 2024 started off with a bang with the Week 1 card, with 4 winners getting contracts. My picks were also quite good as well going 4-1, with my incorrect pick being Ding Meng. I was always very excited for Week 1 and that card delivered. On paper this card could also end up with just as many finishes.

PAT PYTLIK (9-1) vs. ANDREAS GUSTAFSSON (10-2) – Welterweight

This fight is the headliner of this event, but is also my least confident pick. This is a fight which anything could happen. Both guys are big welterweights, have crazy power, but are also quite hittable. Either way, I would be surprised if this fight exits the first round. Pat Pytlik has 9 wins and 9 knockouts. Looking at him you wouldn't expect him to be a big power type of fighter, but he is very sneakily accurate and uses his long reach very well. He did take a long break in the middle of his career due to a back injury he suffered while training for a fight which he lost and aggravated the injury even more. He returned roughly 18 months ago and his most recent fight was on the “Dana White's Lookin' For a Fight”. He looks to be pretty good and has got two great KO wins in his return. Gustafsson is a bit of the opposite. He is a maniac. His fights are total chaos as he rushes forward landing bombs, but also getting hit with bombs as well. His biggest weakness is for sure his striking defense, because it doesn't exist. He gets hit a lot, and by lesser strikers than Pytlik. There definitely is a chance that Pytlik keeps Gustafsson at range by throwing his jabs and straight shots, not giving Gustafsson any chance to close the distance. But there is also a very real chance that Pytlik can't deal with the power and pressure as he never fought someone that hits as hard as Gustafsson. Gustafsson also has an iron chin. I am banking on Gustafsson's chin holding up and something landing. Gustafsson also seems to be the bigger fighter and he will be willing to close the distance with the clinch if necessary. I will state again that I am very low confidence in this pick, and at +200 or more, Pytlik is an underdog that will fight for your money.

Pick: Andreas Gustafsson (-270) by round 1 KO/TKO. Very low confidence.

RIZVAN KUNIEV (12-2-1) vs. HUGO CUNHA (8-1) – Heavyweight

This is a fight that definitely could end up being boring. Rizvan Kuniev competed on the Contender Series in 2021 where he won by finish but didn't get a contract. Since then he fought for Khabib's promotion and beat former UFC fighter Anthony Hamilton. He followed that win up by beating Renan Ferreira who ended up winning the PFL Championship last year, and will be fighting Francis Ngannou next. However, he did test positive for four anabolic steroids. He hasn't fought since and he still seems to be in pretty decent shape. You could argue that he is better everywhere in this fight. He is certainly the better striker, and he is likely the better grappler. Hugo Cunha is a national wrestling champion in Brazil. The problem that I have with him is that he doesn't shoot for take downs as often as he should, and he does absolutely nothing on the feet. Cunha is one of the most low volume guys I have seen. It took him getting dropped by Eduardo Neves before he shot a take down as well. Kuniev has shown against decent competition that he is a good heavyweight. Although he had a pharmacy fueling him against Ferreira he did look very solid. He looked comfortable on the feet and was able to pressure Ferreira without too much issues. On the feet he should be able to do more damage and if he wants to he could take Cunha down as well. This fight could very well go all 3 rounds and I sure hope it doesn't.

Pick: Rizvan Kuniev (-600) by round 2 KO/TKO. High confidence.

CORTAVIOUS ROMIOUS (8-2) vs. MICHAEL IMPERATO (12-6) – Bantamweight

This fight is a bit of a mystery to me. Imperato beat Ricky Bandejas in front of Dana White as a massive underdog and is now on the Contender Series. He is a grappler but doesn't have anything else. His striking is terrible and so is his wrestling. I encourage you to watch his fight against Musa Toliver. Toliver had a losing record and took down Imperato all three rounds with ease and controlled him. He did no damage but neither did Imperato, and Imperato somehow got the decision. Romious is a bit of a maniac himself. He is going to be significantly more aggressive than Imperato. He punches in bunches and rushes forwards, shooting for take downs and looking for submissions. If he keeps the fight on the feet it shouldn't be close. Imperato's best chance is landing another big submission but I struggled to see it happening. He doesn't look comfortable at all on the feet and now he has to fight someone as aggressive and powerful and Romious. I like Romious to win by KO on the feet but there is a slight chance he gets caught in a submission.

Pick: Cortavious Romious (-300) by round 1 KO/TKO. Medium confidence.

TORREZ FINNEY (8-0) vs. CAM ROWSTON (8-2) – Middleweight

I really like Finney in this match up. Torrez Finney a massive dude for middleweight even though he only is 5′ 8″. He has a lot of muscle and uses that strength to wrestle. He definitely does rely on his strength a lot as most of his take downs are big slams. He defeated another wrestler last year in Yuri Panferov and didn't get signed. I think it was odd they snubbed him as the fight wasn't boring, he dominated, and then got the finish. Maybe they wanted Yuri Panferov to win as he's close with Matt Serra. Nonetheless I think he does get another win here. Rowston is a fighter I am familiar with as he trains out of City Kickboxing. He is a King in the Ring 8 Man Kickboxing champion like other great CKB strikers Navajo Stirling and Carlos Ulberg. I don't think his striking style translates super well to MMA though. He keeps his hands very low and is low volume. He is going to be significantly taller in the fight but he has struggled against shorter opponents before. He got KOed pretty badly by Isi Fikitefu who is another short and powerful wrestler, but that fight was a long time ago and he has obviously improved since then. He has fought low level competition over he in New Zealand and Australia and I'm not sure how he is going to deal with the big step up against a powerful wrestler. There is no doubt at all that he is the better striker out of the two but I do doubt that he can defend Finney's take downs. The pick is Torrez Finney by KO/TKO. I am pretty confident in him if he wrestles. If for some reason he chooses not to wrestle then the fight could get interesting as Finney doesn't have technical striking and once again, relies on his big power.

Pick: Torrez Finney (-360) by round 1 KO/TKO. Medium-High confidence.

BILLY BRAND (5-1) vs. CODY HADDON (6-1) – Bantamweight

Cody Haddon opened as a +165 underdog so hopefully a couple of you guys got in on that line. Haddon is now a favourite and the line has completely flipped as Billy Brand is now +155. This is a very close fight, and another very low confidence pick. This is a mirror match up. Both guys are small for bantamweight and are therefore very fast for the weight class. Brand has a Muay Thai background which shows in his fights as he has great kicks and movement. His striking defense can be his weakness at times though as he has been caught multiple times in fights. If he wants to he does shoot for the occasional take down. He had a war with Payton Talbott in which he made a good account for himself, but ultimately was getting hit with big shots the whole fight. Haddon also has a war with a prominent UFC fighter. Earlier in his career he gave Steve Erceg one of the toughest fights of his career, where he lost a decision. Haddon is also a very fast bantamweight with solid striking and wrestling. If I knew Haddon was going to go into this fight with a wrestling game plan I would have a little bit of confidence in his as I think he has the better grappling. However he is also a primary striker and we often see guys get caught up in striking wars on the Contender Series. I can see Brand winning as he is incredibly fast on the feet but I also do have my concerns about the striking defense. This is another low confidence pick, leaning on Haddon due to the grappling upside and the striking defense of Brand.

Pick: Cody Haddon (-185) by decision. Low confidence.