{"id":100077,"date":"2025-08-27T16:44:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T16:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/100077\/"},"modified":"2025-08-27T16:44:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T16:44:11","slug":"two-iowa-mma-fighters-compete-on-espn-for-a-chance-at-ufc-contracts-heres-how-they-did","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/100077\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Iowa MMA fighters compete on ESPN for a chance at UFC contracts. Here’s how they did."},"content":{"rendered":"

Two Iowa mixed martial arts fighters recently appeared on an ESPN program with the opportunity to make it to the pinnacle of the sport \u2014 the Ultimate Fighting Championship.<\/p>\n

Iowa natives Alik Lorenz<\/a> and Darion<\/a> Abbey<\/a> appeared on the Tuesday, Aug. 26 broadcast of “Dana White’s Contender Series,”<\/a> a weekly fight show on ESPN+<\/a> where up-and-coming MMA fighters compete for a chance to impress UFC president Dana White and earn a contract with the promotion.<\/p>\n

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Here’s how Lorenz and Abbey fared in their bouts on “Dana White’s Contender Series,” and if they were able to make it in the UFC.<\/p>\n

Did Iowa native Alik Lorenz earn a contract on ‘Dana White’s Contender Series’?\"DWCS<\/p>\n

DWCS 79 – Alik Lorenz<\/p>\n

Lorenz suffered his second career loss as a professional MMA fighter after being TKO’d by Abdul-Rakhman Yakhyaev in 29 seconds into the first round. His professional record now is 6-2.<\/p>\n

Lorenz, originally from Durant, Iowa, came out and showed some solid ideas opposite a southpaw, even scoring a takedown after catching his opponent’s kick. However, the American would let Yakhyaev back up to his feet, who quickly blitzed Lorenz with punches that hurt him.<\/p>\n

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Despite the defeat, the 28-year-old received praise from UFC veterans and fellow training partners Jose Delgado<\/a> and Jared Cannonier<\/a> in the promo video before his fight.<\/p>\n

“Alik is one of the best training partners because of his control,” Delgado said. “He’s incredible to watch.<\/p>\n

Did Iowa native Darion Abbey earn a contract on ‘Dana White’s Contender Series’?\"LAS<\/p>\n

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – AUGUST 26: Darion Abbey stands in his corner before facing Donte Johnson in a heavyweight fight during Dana White’s Contender Series season nine, week three at UFC APEX on August 26, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Unger\/Zuffa LLC)<\/p>\n

The Fort Madison native also came up short in his Dana White’s Contender Series debut when he was TKO’d by Donte Jackson roughly one minute into the first round of a three-round heavyweight fight. Following Tuesday’s loss, Abbey’s record as a professional sits at 9-5.<\/p>\n

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In a promo video, Abbey, 32, shared how MMA helped him escape a life of substance abuse and crime, including daily drug use that led to a seizure.<\/p>\n

“The moment I [started MMA], everything I did in the past stopped, and I’m fortunate enough that it led me here,” Abbey said.<\/p>\n

Abbey and Lorenz actually fought earlier in their professional careers during a bout in October 2021, with the former winning via a first-round KO\/TKO, according to Tapology<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Cooper Worth is a service\/trending reporter for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at cworth@gannett.com or follow him on X @CooperAWorth.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: How did Iowa MMA fighters fare on ‘Dana White’s Contender Series’?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two Iowa mixed martial arts fighters recently appeared on an ESPN program with the opportunity to make it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":100078,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[72740,64,63,59301,958,72739,794,786,72909,785,72907,85,72908],"class_list":{"0":"post-100077","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-alik-lorenz","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-contender-series","12":"tag-dana-white","13":"tag-darion-abbey","14":"tag-espn","15":"tag-fighting","16":"tag-jose-delgado","17":"tag-mma","18":"tag-mma-fighters","19":"tag-sports","20":"tag-ultimate-fighting-championship"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}