Dana White’s Contender Series is gearing up for the final of Season 9. This has been the platform that paved the way for a few former champions, and it will continue to do the same and produce future champions. But ahead of the finale, a recent audit report from Sherdog.com has revealed some questionable details about one of the heavyweight fighters set to compete on Tuesday night.

Stat-padding, a phenomenon that involves a fighter racking up wins by fighting very low-level fighters, is something that’s been a common topic of discussion in the community. Hall of Famer Khabib Nurmagomedov‘s record has also come under attention for stat-padding, but then, there are those fighters who have been caught falsifying records. And one of them has found his way to the Contender Series.

Dana White’s Contender Series fighter falsified his record

31-year-old Uzbek heavyweight fighter, Azamat Nuftillaev, is making his way to the other side of the world in the United States to compete in Dana White‘s Contender Series for the first time. He’s been taking on a fellow DWCS debutant, Jovan Leka, who’s eight years younger than him. But the age difference is not what we’re talking about. According to Sherdog‘s Jay Petty, Nuftillaev appears to have added four fights that lack evidence to support their occurrence. As a result, his real record now stands at 13-1-1.

Unsurprisingly, a similar instance occurred in the past when Sanjar Azhibaev made his way into the UFC. The Kyrgyz fighter was called out by MMA record keeper Tapology on social media, who brought this to attention, saying, “Congratulations Sanjar Azhibaev, your fight page is now flagged forever for your lies and deceit.” Dana White may need to upgrade his research team to avoid these kinds of fighters.

On the other hand, Nuftillaev’s opponent, Jovan Leka, the story is completely the opposite. Unlike his older counterpart, the 23-year-old’s record was missing one victory. After the audit, the win was added to his record, which now stands at 10-2. Meanwhile, there was one fighter from India who was competing on the Road to UFC when his falsified record was called out as well.

Indian fighter’s record had ghost fighters

India has slowly started to penetrate the MMA industry, with Puja Tomar becoming the first Indian to win a UFC fight. But just like Azamat Nuftillaev, there was one fighter from this region who garnered attention for all the wrong reasons. The UFC signed Sumit Kumar for the second season of Road to UFC. Anshul Jubli was the winner of the previous edition, so the expectation was surely there in India to see a new star breaking out of the tournament. At the time of his Road to UFC signing, Sumit Kumar had a 7-0 record, which is not bad for a fighter aspiring to make his way in Dana White’s promotion.

However, the truth was a bit complicated, as media outlet Bloody Elbow‘s investigation led to the revelation that three of his seven fights were removed due to validity issues. “Everything seemed normal until we went deeper to investigate the bout. There is no fighter in India named Prakash Raut, and this incident was a scam to build a padded record,” Indian MMA expert Rahul Chhabra told Bloody Elbow.

For Azamat Nuftillaev, his fight against Jovan Leka is still on, and there has been no indication from Dana White and the UFC about it getting scrapped. Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see if the CEO and the other execs address this situation. Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below.