Contender Series 2024 Week 5 doesn't take place until September 10 but I am in Australia all week so have done my research early. As I write this article only 4 fights are official but I aware of the 5th match up which will be at Light Heavyweight. I will update the article when I can when that fight is official.

KODY STEELE (6-0) vs. QUEMEL OTTONI (12-3) – Welterweight

Quemel Ottoni is most famous for being the first person to defeat Alex Pereira in MMA. That fight was nearly 10 years ago now, and since then he has been able to find a decent amount of success fighting in Brazil. He hasn't fought since 2022 and in that period of time he signed to the PFL but never fought for them as all three of his booked fights were cancelled. Watching his tape I expected him to be more of a grappler. He mostly fights with a muay thai striking style, keeping his hands low and throwing a lot of kicks. He has decent head movement and often relies on it because his hands are by his waist. When fights go down to the mat he does have great grappling, but his take down defense hasn't been tested recently. Steele is a prospect that the UFC must really like. He was offered the Contender Series spot when he was 5-0, but accepted a tough test against Alejandro Martinez anyways. In that fight he had his best performance to date and showed much improved striking compared to his previous fights. Against Nico Echeverry he was getting caught a lot in the boxing. He fought Martinez only 7 months later and looked much better on the feet. He actually won that fight with his boxing as he was attempting a lot of take downs but Martinez was defending them well. He does have great wrestling but he does struggle holding opponents down. This is a hard fight to pick as I could see Ottoni beating Steele on the feet. But Steele always comes forwards and will be attempting take downs often which I like a lot in this fight. Of the two I also think the fighter more likely to slow down as the fight goes on is Ottoni, and we haven't seen him fight for over 2 years now.

Pick: Kody Steele by decision. Low confidence.

OTAR TANZILOV (9-0) vs. JOSIAS MUSASA (7-0) – Bantamweight

I love this fight because I am pretty confident someone is going to get knocked out in the first round. Both of these guys are powerful strikers with 14 knock out wins between them. Tanzilov is a massive bantamweight with a very long reach. He mostly throws fast kicks from range, especially to the body and legs. He started out his career knocking out everyone but as he started to fight better competition his fights have been going a bit longer. He has very poor cardio as he was gassed out in the second round in his last two fights. In his most recent fight he was dominated in the wrestling in the first round but his opponent tired out and he started to defend the take downs a bit better and ended up winning the fight with his striking. I have only seen him attempt and complete one take down and that was in the 3rd round against Eduardo Dinis. Josias Musasa is a super fun fighter but I don't think he is ready for the UFC just yet. He is one of the most powerful guys I have seen at this weight class though. He mostly runs forward throwing massive boxing combinations. That's all there really is to his game. He has a great highlight reel but he has just been running through everyone he has fought in the first round. Tanzilov will be a good test for him as Tanzilov uses a lot more movement and fights from range. In this fight I think Tanzilov is going to use his reach advantage to keep Musasa out of boxing range and will eventually find a finish. The commentators were also talking about Josias' grappling in a recent fight and from what I understand he just only recently started training his grappling. All I have really seen out of Tanzilov is defensive wrestling and grappling but if Tanzilov wants to take it there he probably has the advantage on the ground. Aside from Musasa landing a massive KO blow in round 1, I think this a good fight for Tanzilov to get another finish.

Pick: Otar Tanzilov by KO/TKO in round 1. Medium confidence.

CORINNE LAFRAMBOISE (8-4) vs. NICOLLE CALIARI (7-2) – Women's Flyweight

Laframboise was meant to fight on the Contender Series last year but had to pull out as pre-fight medical tests revealed that she was pregnant. She hasn't fought since but has been given another opportunity. She is a black belt in BJJ and wins all of her fights with her grappling. On the feet she doesn't have much to offer and just walks forward into punches. In her last fight against Carolina Jimenez she was getting lit up on the feet until she got the take down. When she did, her grappling looked very impressive as she was able to get an arm bar pretty easily, but when Jimenez didn't tap she turned it into a triangle choke which ended up getting her the finish. I don't really love her take downs as she relies on getting trips in the clinch which has proven to be ineffective against high level competition. Nicolle Caliari is a tough prospect to get a good read on as I couldn't find much tape on her most recent fights as they have been for Face the Danger and Fight Music Show which don't have a great reputation. There is plenty out there on her older fights though at least. Caliari is going to be the smaller fighter in this match up. She is a former strawweight but moved up to flyweight recently. She is a technical striker who throws in combinations. If she can keep the fight standing I think she could look very impressive but I have seen her taken down controlled before. This is a very low confidence pick as I don't think Laframboise has much to offer aside from her grappling, but she will be the bigger fighter and I think she can bully her way to getting this fight to the ground.

Pick: Corinne Laframboise by decision or submission. Low confidence

YOUSRI BELGAROUI (7-3) vs. TAIGA IWASAKI (9-1) – Middleweight

Belgaroui was on the Contender Series last year but was sick so he put up a poor performance. He has fought Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya in GLORY Kickboxing in the past, and now trains with Alex Pereira and Glover Teixeira. Since losing to Marco Tulio last year, he has fought twice at light heavyweight. I think he looked great at 205 as he is already huge. He is 6'5″ and looked much bigger than both of his light heavyweight opponents. He has an odd striking style which has taken him a while to adjust to MMA. He leans forward a lot with his hands by his waist and he defends most shots using movement. He has a very technical style but because of it can be low volume and doesn't commit fully into a lot of his strikes. The way most of his opponents have been able to land strikes on him is boxing in close quarters. His take down defense did look much improved in his recent fights as well. Taiga Iwasaki is an exciting prospect as we don't typically see talented MMA guys in the higher weight classes from Japan. He has a karate background with very fast kicks. He uses leg kicks very effectively. His only loss comes to Rafael Lovato Jr. which was just an odd fight to make as Lovato is one of the most successful BJJ fighters ever from the USA. It looked like he wanted to prove a point in his most recent fight as he spent most of the fight wrestling. Although it was probably good for him to get that experience I didn't think that his wrestling looked great as his opponent defended a lot of the take downs. I would be surprised if his take downs are good enough to get Belgaroui to the ground. This fight is a striking match up but Iwasaki has shown intent to wrestle in his most recent fight so we might see some wrestling from him. Iwasaki isn't a small middleweight but he is going to look small against Belgaroui. Belgaroui is the much taller and longer striker and he will keep this fight at his range. I think it's a good style match up for Belgaroui and I am interested in seeing what he could achieve in the UFC if he was to win this fight.

Pick: Yousri Belgaroui by second round KO/TKO. Medium-High confidence.

TBA () vs. TBA () – Light Heavyweight

This is a striker vs. striker match up. One of the fighters is better at striking than the other. Will update when the fight is official.