Ian Escuza just punched his ticket to the UFC, but not without leaving a giant mess behind. ‘The Specimen’ needed only 32 seconds to starch Luca Borando in their featherweight clash at the Meta APEX on Tuesday night. The finish looked spectacular at first, but things quickly got controversial when Escuza landed a knee while his 26-year-old opponent appeared to be clearly grounded.

Even Dana White wasn’t exactly thrilled with the call. The UFC CEO admitted he disagreed with the Nevada Athletic Commission’s decision to award Ian Escuza the TKO win. Still, that didn’t stop White from handing the undefeated fighter a UFC contract. After all, the 30-year-old had some serious backing in his corner.

“Ian, unfortunately for you, I disagree with the athletic commission. I think this fight should have been a no contest,” White said while offering the contract. “It was an illegal knee; I don’t think it was intentional, but not the way it should have played out.

“And I don’t know how you get in here on a DQ or a no contest, but let me tell you this, Sean Shelby just fought hard for you in the back. Sean Shelby said this guy’s great; he’s very talented. Don’t make Sean regret this. Welcome to the UFC, Ian Escuza.”

A lot went down in those 32 seconds. Ian Escuza, who came in with a perfect 7-0 record, started the fight by smashing Luca Borando with a series of legal knees against the cage. But then came the big talking point: the final knee appeared to land with the Italian in a grounded position.

‘The Specimen’ didn’t stop there. He followed up with a flurry of punches until the fight was waved off. To make matters worse, ever-controversial referee Herb Dean had a clear look at the whole sequence but didn’t immediately call a foul, something that even made Dana White criticise the referee in the presser.

“Herb Dean’s been around for a long f—— time,” he said. “It’s not like, uh, you know, he’s green and he needs some work. He f—— up.”

After the fight, commission officials, including Herb Dean and Nevada Athletic Commission executive director Jeff Mullen, huddled around a monitor to take another look at the sequence. The replay seemed to show Luca Borando grounded when the final knee landed, but after reviewing the footage, the commission decided to let the TKO result stand.

The broadcast explained that officials determined the final knee didn’t contribute to the stoppage. Still, that explanation didn’t exactly settle the debate, with plenty of viewers and media members left wondering how the whole sequence had been handled.

For now, it’s anyone’s guess whether the 26-year-old’s team will try to challenge the result. As things stand, though, Ian Escuza walks away with the win and keeps his perfect finishing record intact, while Luca Borando’s five-fight win streak comes crashing to an end.

And it is worth noting that this wasn’t even the only recent fight where a controversial knee became the centre of attention. Dustin Poirier and Jorge Masvidal recently had some pretty blunt reactions after a TUF 34 winner appeared to flop his way to victory. So yeah, it’s been a pretty chaotic week for the UFC.

Interestingly, Dana White has been on both sides of this exact situation. While he didn’t want to sign ‘The Specimen’, the UFC CEO once went against his own matchmakers and handed a contract to a fighter they wanted nothing to do with.

After a 2021 episode of Dana White’s Contender Series featuring Jake Hadley, White revealed that his matchmakers had specifically told him not to offer Hadley a contract. ‘White Kong’ had won his fight but missed weight and reportedly rubbed some UFC staff the wrong way with his attitude.

Dana White ignored the warning and signed him anyway. According to the head honcho, Hunter Campbell later told him that Sean Shelby and Mick Maynard were so frustrated by the decision that they literally stormed out of the room.

But did that gamble actually pay off? Well… not really. Jake Hadley parted ways with the UFC in October 2024, although he later clarified that he wasn’t technically “cut”. His contract simply expired following his fight at UFC Vegas 99, and the UFC opted not to renew it.

Hadley went 3-4 during his UFC run and lost three of his final four fights, ultimately bringing his time with the promotion to an end. So now, it’ll be interesting to see if Sean Shelby’s backing of Ian Escuza leads to a very different outcome.

However, the Peruvian isn’t even the only fighter to land a UFC contract despite Dana White making his displeasure pretty obvious. Adama Diop also got the call, and the head honcho wasn’t exactly thrilled about it either.

Dana White gives another fighter a UFC contract despite a “horrible” fight

Ian Escuza wasn’t the only fighter to walk out of Tuesday’s Contender Series card with a UFC contract. But while the Peruvian’s controversial win still earned him plenty of backing, Adama Diop got a very different welcome from Dana White.

Diop punched his ticket to the UFC by beating Zaurbek Sabanov in a heavyweight bout. The only problem? Dana White absolutely hated what he saw.

While handing Diop his contract, the UFC CEO didn’t exactly hold back.

“All right, big guy. Your fight was horrible, sloppy, and one of the worst fights I’ve ever seen on the Contender Series,” White said. “Your stand-up is horrible. You tried to wrestle your way to a win until the crowd started booing you out of this place.

“And if you fought in the UFC, a UFC heavyweight will knock your a– out the way this kid did and get the win. And here’s the even bigger problem: You’re 31 years old. So if you don’t get this opportunity tonight, what are you going to do? Where are you going to end up? How’s it going to go? Don’t f—— make me regret this. Welcome to the UFC.”

Representing West Africa, Diop can now officially call himself a UFC fighter after making his name with Extreme Fighting Championship Worldwide and Hexagone MMA.

The 31-year-old brings a pretty unusual style to the cage, mixing his grappling with awkward strikes, including standing hammer fists and attacks from some seriously weird angles. Against Sabanov, Adama Diop kept marching forward and eventually overwhelmed him, forcing the stoppage and securing the TKO win.

Even after the fight was over, White still wasn’t ready to let it go.

“The heavyweight fight that I talked about — who disagrees with me? F—– atrocious. Atrocious,” White said.

And the UFC CEO’s biggest issue was Diop’s approach. The head honcho argued that the same game plan simply wouldn’t fly against the heavier hitters waiting for him in the UFC.

“Sloppiest fight, probably in — I can’t remember off the top of my head, right here, right now. But I would call that the sloppiest,” he continued. “Standup: horrendous. Was just going to keep wrestling until he started getting booed out of the place. A UFC heavyweight won’t gas out like his opponent did tonight.”

So while the 31-year-old got the contract, Dana White made it pretty clear that he’ll have plenty to prove once he steps inside the UFC Octagon.

The other fighters to punch their tickets to the UFC were Aieza Bertolso and George Staines.

Bertolso wasted no time making an impression. The 25-year-old improved her perfect professional record to 8-0 by submitting Camila Reynoso with an inverted D’Arce choke at 3:02 of the opening round.

Dana White was clearly impressed with what he saw, especially given Bertolso’s age, undefeated record and massive pre-fight odds.

“So, you looked great on your feet,” he said while offering her the contract. “You looked great on the ground. You’re 8-0 at 25 years old. You were a 5-1 favourite. I don’t believe anybody is ever a 5-1 favourite, especially here at the Contender Series. You were definitely a 5-1 favourite.

“You look amazing, and I think you’re going to be a great addition to the 115-pound division. Welcome to the UFC.”

George Staines, meanwhile, punched his ticket to the UFC in spectacular fashion, scoring a vicious slam knockout against Loai Abushaar. The two featherweights traded low kicks early, with Abushaar narrowly missing on a high kick before Staines closed the distance and dragged him to the mat.

Abushaar managed to get back up, but ‘Saint’ wasn’t letting him escape. He immediately hoisted him into the air and dumped him back down with a brutal mat return that left the opponent unconscious. As expected, the head honcho was absolutely blown away by the finish.

“All right, George. You were up against a massive guy at 155 pounds, and you absolutely destroyed him,” he said. “One of the greatest finishes ever. You made it look easy. Congratulations and welcome to the UFC.”

And well, such a finish was expected of him considering the fact that the Liverpool prospect trains alongside Paddy Pimblett and fellow undefeated standout Luke Riley. Now, Staines joins Ian Escuza, Adama Diop and Aieza Bertolso as the latest fighters to punch their tickets to the UFC through the Contender Series.