DWCS 94 results: Staines, Diop, Escuza and Bertolso all finish
DWCS 94 results: Staines, Diop, Escuza and Bertolso all won inside the distance at the Meta Apex. How our model, the betting market and our picks scored it.
Four fights, four finishes, and not one scorecard. That was Dana White's Contender Series 94 on Tuesday night at the Meta Apex in Las Vegas: three first-round stoppages, one second-round TKO, and a combined 11 minutes and 48 seconds of actual fighting across the whole card. A week after three decisions at Contender Series 93, the show went straight back to what it has been all season.
It is also the first of the eight Contender Series cards in 2026 without a single decision. Every other Tuesday sent at least one fight to the judges.
I should admit up front that I had three of these four going the distance. We will get to that.
What happened
Adama Diop def. Zaurbek Sabanov, TKO, round 2, 2:13 (heavyweight). The fight of the night, and the one the betting market was surest about. Sabanov closed at -355, roughly a 78 percent favorite, and on Monday he had been as short as -461. For one round he looked the part: 23 significant strikes to Diop's 24, with 19 of his 29 on the night going to the body. But Diop also took him down twice in that first round and held 2:11 of control, and in the second the count went 27 to 6 before Bryan Miner stopped it. Diop goes to 7-1. Sabanov, unbeaten coming in, is 4-1.
George Staines def. Loai Abushaar, TKO, round 1, 1:01 (lightweight). I spent a whole article this week explaining how Staines wins by patience. He did not need any. Three takedowns from four attempts in 61 seconds, ten significant strikes to Abushaar's four, five of them on the mat, and Herb Dean waved it off. The takedown half of that piece held up. The three-round grind never arrived. Staines is 11-0, Abushaar 7-2.
Ian Escuza def. Luca Borando, TKO, round 1, 0:32 (featherweight). Thirty-two seconds: a knockdown, a takedown, and nine significant strikes landed from twelve thrown. Borando threw two and landed none. It is the third-fastest finish of the 39 Contender Series fights this season, behind only Modestino Rodrigues and Akbar Abdullaev. Escuza is 8-0. Borando is 9-2.
Aieza Bertolso def. Camila Reynoso, submission, round 1, 3:02 (women's strawweight). The opener, and the only finish that did not come from strikes. The striking was dead level at six apiece. The difference was one takedown and 2:08 of control before the tap. Bertolso stays unbeaten at 8-0, Reynoso drops to 9-2.
How the preview did
On Monday I published our model's numbers and my picks. The model took one last look on Tuesday afternoon, about two and a half hours before the first bell, and several of its numbers moved. Both versions are below, next to the closing betting price.
| Fight | Model, Monday | Model, final | Closing price | My pick | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Staines vs Abushaar | Staines 85.7% | Staines 82.9% | Staines -374 | Staines, decision | Staines, TKO 1 |
| Diop vs Sabanov | Diop 50.2% | Diop 49.7% | Sabanov -355 | Sabanov, decision | Diop, TKO 2 |
| Escuza vs Borando | Escuza 33.3% | Escuza 42.8% | Escuza -123 | Borando, TKO | Escuza, TKO 1 |
| Bertolso vs Reynoso | Bertolso 62.3% | Bertolso 51.4% | Bertolso -575 | Bertolso, decision | Bertolso, sub 1 |
The market's closing favorite won three of four. The model went three of four on Monday's numbers and two of four on its final ones, and the whole difference is the heavyweight fight, which it called a coin flip both times. I am not going to let it claim a 50.2 that became a 49.7 as a hit. What it earns is the refusal. On a man with four pro fights, the market said 82 percent on Monday and the model said it had no idea, and the man with four pro fights got stopped.
Escuza is the model's miss, and not a small one. On Monday it had Borando at 66.7 percent. During the week the market flipped from Borando to Escuza, and the model moved with it only partway, still on Borando at 57.2 when the fight lasted 32 seconds.
Bertolso is the odd one. The market got more confident all week, from -431 in Monday's preview to -575 at the close, while the model's final number fell to 51.4. She won in the first round. The model was right about the winner and wrong about almost everything else.
As for me: two of four on winners, zero of four on method. I picked three decisions on a card that produced none. I also sided with the market on the heavyweight fight after spending four paragraphs explaining why the market was overconfident. Noted.
The card that changed twice
Two fights listed for this card never happened on it. Igor Cavalcanti vs Oscar Ravello, the original middleweight main event, came off on September 3. The same two men met at Contender Series 92 on September 15 instead, and Cavalcanti won by TKO at 1:38 of the first. Staines vs Abushaar was added on September 16 and inherited the top spot, which means the headliner that ended in 61 seconds had been booked for 13 days.
Ilias Bulaid vs Erick Visconde went much later. The featherweight fight was in Monday's preview, and the betting market was still quoting it at 6:20 p.m. ET on Tuesday, forty minutes before the show. It did not happen. As of this morning it sits on Contender Series 96 on October 13.
Where the season stands
Four more finishes put the 2026 Contender Series at 28 in 39 fights, 72 percent, and 17 of those 39 never reached a second round. After last week I wondered aloud whether the decisions would be rewarded. This week nobody tested the question.
What I cannot tell you is who left with a contract. The promotion hands them out at its own discretion, and nothing in our records says who got one, so I will not guess. What I can say is that none of these four winners left the decision to three judges, which on this show is the closest thing there is to a cover letter.
Contender Series 95 is next Tuesday, October 6, with Roque Conceição against Alexander Chavez at the top. Full stats from this card are on the event page. If anyone there wins in 32 seconds, check whether I picked him by decision.