Contender series by Dana White started in 2017. Since then, the Contender Series has produced some major rising stars such as Dan Ige, Sean O’Malley, Geoff Neal, Maycee Barber and Edmen Shahbazyan. In short: it was a huge success for finding talent.
A Contender Series fight is a fight with unparalleled stakes, where fighters must showcase their skills to impress their opponents UFC president enough for a contract with the promotional giant. Holding the Contender Series with a smaller cage at the UFC Apex venue makes for a tense atmosphere, and with only close friends and family of the competing fighters as spectators. Emotions are always running high as there are a limited number of contracts to be handed out on any given night, and many fighters may find their dreams rejected solely due to bad luck.
However, on rare occasions a hunter gets a second look. This series will explore that.
Wes “Party Time” Schultz (7-2 MMA)
Age: 29 years old
Height: 6’2″ / Range: 76″
Weight class: Middleweight (185 pounds)
First DW’s Contender Series Fight: 2024 (week 1)
Old DW Contender Series opponent: Mansur Abdul-Malik (5-0mm)
Second DW’s Contender Series fight: 2025 (week 10)
New opponent: Maro Mingaj (7-0MMA)
First fight of the Contender series
Wes went 6-1 as an amateur and won multiple middleweight championships between 2019 and 2021.
Schultz turned pro at the end of 2021, with his first three opponents having a combined record of 21-24. Some highly experienced matchups for a fighter starting out as a pro, with two of those fights taking place under the banner of the Legacy Fighting Alliance (LFA) – a Texas, US-based promotion and leading producer of UFC talent. In his next fight, Wes lost a unanimous decision to then 4-1 fighter Dylan Budka. Dylan would go 1-1 in his next two before winning a contract for the 2023 season of DWCS (granted, Dylan went 0-3 with the UFC and was released earlier this year, but still).
Wes would bounce back by snapping a three-fight win streak, picking up two wins in the LFA and completing all of the first rounds. This caught the attention of the UFC and he was invited to the 2024 season of the Contender Series.
In the fight itself, Wes put in a valiant effort but was overpowered and finished deep in the second round via ground n’ pound.
First Contender Series opponent
In Schultz’s first appearance on the Contender Series, he took on Mansur Abdul-Malik. Mansur won a contract as a result of his finish against Wes. Abdul-Malik would make his UFC debut a few months later, stopping a then 12-4 Dusko Todorovic. The finish in the first round earned Mansur a performance bonus. Earlier this year, Mansur stopped then 6-1 Nick Klein in the second round of their fight.
Most recently, Mansur scored an ultra-controversial majority decision victory against Cody Brundage. The decision was later overturned to a draw (incomplete rounds were scored, which is against Georgia Athletic Commission rules).
Mansur is currently scheduled to face Antonio Troccoli in December. So all things considered, this is a loss that has become exceptional for Wes and is clearly a big part of why he’s back.
The way back
In the year and two months since Wes last appeared at APEX, he has competed once and had two fights cancelled.
Wes was actually immediately scheduled for redemption, as he was scheduled to fight in week 10 of the same season of the CS. But instead, Wes withdrew from his fight against Heraldo Souza. Souza, then 9-1-1, would be submitted by short-term replacement Nick Klein in just over 30 seconds. Klein would get a UFC contract (and later lose to Mansur Abdul-Malik).
Schultz took on Dustin Pape 7-4 in the Michiana Fight League (MFL), based in Indiana, USA. Wes smoked Dustin and subdued the fighter with a guillotine within a minute. This fight was in April.
“Party Time” was set to fight Blake Breitsprecher at heavyweight at 4-14 to stay busy in July. That fight would take place under the banner of Pure FC (PFC), based in Wisconsin, USA. The fight was canceled because another event was scheduled and Blake was rebooked to face another opponent.
Game plan/new opponent
For his chance at redemption in the Contender Series, Schultz will face another undefeated fighter in Mario Mingaj.
Mario is a towering figure at 6 feet tall and has plenty of experience in the cage. Mingaj was actually 2-3 in amateur MMA and started his amateur career in 2016.
Mario is a four-fight veteran of the Venator Fighting Championship (VFC), based in Italy, and a two-fight veteran of Cage Warriors FC, based in England. He has good experiences. As a professional, Mario started his career in 2021. Mario’s best opponent was his most recent fight against then 7-2 fighter Zura Zarnadze. Mario submitted Zura with a triangle choke less than two minutes into the first round of their fight in November 2024. In the fight before that, the debut of Mingaj’s Cage Warrior, he submitted undefeated Qendrim Pallata via triangle choke at the end of the second round.
Mario finished all but one opponent, of those finishes five were submissions, of those submissions four were triangle chokes. He is averse to the technique and is in a position to perform it often.
Wes has a tough opponent for his chance at redemption, but a win one way or another is a guaranteed ticket to the UFC.
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