DWCS Week 9 takes place Tuesday, October 6 at the Meta APEX in Las Vegas.
Start time: 6:00 PM CT on Paramount+
Last updated: October 4, 2026: pre-fight
Live Event Coverage
Live coverage begins Tuesday.
Current five-fight card:
- Preston LaGrange vs. Nell Ariano: Light Heavyweight
- Ryuho Miyaguchi vs. Mateus Soares: Bantamweight
- Roque Conceição vs. Alexander Chavez: Flyweight
- Salhahuddin Everett vs. Ozzy Martin: Welterweight
- Alivia Bierley vs. Summer Onley: Women’s Bantamweight
Pre-Fight Breakdown
Preston LaGrange vs. Nell Ariano
Preston LaGrange is a 6’3” middleweight moving up to light heavyweight on about two weeks’ notice. He trains under Keoni Koch at Hard Drive Performance Center in Iowa and has a wrestling and football background. He likes making things physical, pushing the pace, getting into grappling exchanges and looking for a finish. All six of his pro wins are finishes, including four submissions. His last two wins were rear-naked chokes over Derek Benoit and Dylan Diebitz. His only pro loss came against Brandon Holmes in a crazy grappling exchange. LaGrange had a triangle going, Holmes picked him up, slammed him and finished him with punches. LaGrange attacks submissions aggressively and that exchange shows some of the risk that comes with it.
Nell Ariano is 6-0 with a lot of experience behind that record. He’s a judo black belt who spent close to a decade with the French national team, won an IMMAF European title and now trains under former Bellator champion Christian M’Pumbu at Platinium MMA Training Center. He’s 6’4” and big for light heavyweight. Four of his six wins are knockouts. Three of those finishes came in the second or third round. All six of his pro fights have been in Cage Warriors, with wins over Riku Urholin, Charles Joyner, Danny Hartwell and Norbert Pietrzak.
LaGrange is taking this fight late and moving up to 205. Ariano is already a big light heavyweight, has a legit judo background and has fought the stronger schedule. LaGrange should be the quicker fighter and will probably want to make this messy.
Ryuho Miyaguchi vs. Mateus Soares
Ryuho Miyaguchi is a very tall bantamweight at 5’10” and trains at MMA Dojo Cobra in Osaka. He’s a karate-based striker with six knockouts in seven wins. His kicks and range are the main parts of his striking. Before his first pro loss, he stopped six opponents and then beat former UFC fighter Teruto Ishihara by decision. That’s the best name either guy has beaten. His loss came in May in Road to UFC when Chungreng Koren got his back and submitted him with a rear-naked choke. Miyaguchi later said nerves played a part. Koren was still able to get through his kicking range, force the grappling and take his back.
Mateus Soares is 22 with 13 pro fights already. He trains out of Rizzo RVT under Pedro Rizzo and has a Muay Thai and karate background. He’s around 5’4” or 5’5” and gives up a lot of height here. He has nine knockouts and 10 finishes in 11 wins. He also owns a heel-hook submission. His two losses are a decision and a D’Arce choke to Mackson Lee. Nobody has knocked him out. He’s won four straight since the Lee loss, including a five-round decision over Derick Borges and first-round finishes over Luiz Pacífico and Edson dos Anjos.
Miyaguchi is five or six inches taller and wants to stay outside where he can kick. Soares is the shorter guy and will probably have to get inside to have success. Miyaguchi is better from range, while Soares has more pro experience and has already been in some longer fights.
Roque Conceição vs. Alexander Chavez
Roque Conceição is 26, trains with Revira Black Team and Cruel Top Team in São Paulo and is 11-3 with 10 finishes. He has more pro experience than most flyweights arriving on Contender Series. He was here last year and got caught with an uppercut by Imanol Rodriguez in the first round. Conceição returned in March, went to Japan and knocked out 20-fight veteran Yamato Fujita in the first round with an elbow and punches. He has eight knockouts and two submissions, including a kneebar. He’s aggressive and clearly has power for the weight class.
Alexander Chávez is 9-0 as a pro and went 6-0 as an amateur, putting him at 15-0 overall in MMA. He trains at Pitbull Martial Arts Center in Lima with guys like Enrique Barzola, Jesus Pinedo, Rodrigo Vera and recent DWCS winner Ian Escuza. Chávez is a Muay Thai striker with six knockouts in nine pro wins. All nine of his professional fights have been in Inka FC. Contender Series will be his first fight outside that promotion. His 6-0 amateur run gives him 15 total MMA fights without a loss.
Conceição has more experience, has fought in different places and already knows what Contender Series feels like. Chávez is unbeaten, a little taller and comes from a good gym. We simply know more about Conceição right now.
Salhahuddin Everett vs. Ozzy Martin
Salhahuddin Everett is 4-0 as a pro and went 4-0 as an amateur, putting him at 8-0 overall. He’s 29, 6’3” and this is only his second fight at welterweight, which is kind of ridiculous. He’s going to be huge at 170. He started in boxing, then got into BJJ and eventually MMA. His four pro wins include two knockouts and two submissions, and none lasted three minutes. He knocked out Wesley Drain in four seconds and most recently choked out Armus Guyton in the first round. His competition has been light. Guyton had experience, while Everett’s first three opponents entered with losing or very thin records. There is almost no evidence yet of how Everett looks in a competitive second or third round.
Ozzy Martin is 24, 6’0” and trains at Nostos MMA in New Hampshire under UFC veteran Devin Powell. His parents were professional kickboxers, and he’s competed professionally in boxing and kickboxing himself. He’s 4-0 in MMA with four stoppages. His last fight lasted 30 seconds after he hurt Ryan Jett with knees and elbows. Martin was also a Cage Titans amateur welterweight champion before turning pro. His MMA schedule has been light as well. He has been pushed past the first round, and his striking background is deeper than Everett’s. His pro MMA fights have shown very little of his grappling so far.
Both are unbeaten, both finish everybody and neither has had to deal with much adversity as a pro. Everett is bigger and has shown more of a submission game. Martin has more striking experience. There just isn’t a lot of reliable pro footage or adversity to judge either guy on yet.
Alivia Bierley vs. Summer Onley
Alivia Bierley is 5-1 as a pro after an unbeaten amateur run and trains under UFC veteran Pete Spratt at Spratt Hybrid Systems in Texas. She played college basketball and did gymnastics before getting into fighting, and you can see the athletic background. She’s strong, likes pressure and doesn’t seem bothered by ugly clinch exchanges. As an amateur she won several fights by choke. Her pro wins have included more damage with her hands. She’s won five straight since losing a split decision in her debut. Her last two ended with a knockout of Shanna Gomez and a third-round TKO of Nikola Kacperska. She’s already been through a few full three-round fights and also had a five-round amateur title fight.
Summer Onley is 6-0 and the Full Contact Contender bantamweight champion out of Ronin MMA in England. She got into MMA later than most and had a serious amateur career before turning pro. She represented England at the 2022 IMMAF European Championships and won silver. She’s also a BJJ brown belt and European champion. She has no submissions as a professional. Five of her six pro wins are TKOs. She stopped unbeaten Mônica Fontes to win the FCC title and then stopped Myllena Messias in the second round in her first defense.
Bierley has several amateur submission wins. Onley is a BJJ brown belt with high-level amateur experience. Bierley seems stronger in the clinch. Onley has the better grappling credentials and has been finishing better opponents lately. They’re the same listed height. The clinch and scrambles are probably going to matter a lot.
