Callum Connor earns UFC contract after DWCS defeat and hospital checks

Manchester lightweight Callum Connor secured a UFC contract despite losing to Piero Guaylupo on Dana White’s Contender Series, Low Kick MMA reports. Both fighters needed hospital checks after their three-round bout.

Callum Connor earned a UFC contract despite losing a decision to Piero Guaylupo on Dana White’s Contender Series in Las Vegas, Low Kick MMA reported. Dana White awarded deals to both lightweights after their three-round fight.

The pair landed close to 400 significant strikes between them. White said that combined total would have broken the record for a three-round UFC lightweight contest had it happened on a regular UFC card. He described the bout as a possible Fight of the Year contender and said both men had earned their contracts.

Both fighters needed hospital checks afterwards. Connor learned of his deal while receiving treatment, with his team filming the announcement beside his hospital bed. He later returned to speak to reporters, bruised and swollen but in good spirits.

Guaylupo pressured Connor from the opening bell with hooks to the head and body, then dropped him late in the first round. Connor recovered and continued trading through the remaining two rounds, but Guaylupo took every round on the scorecards, 30-27.

Connor said he had expected to win in style and credited Guaylupo’s durability and pressure. Reflecting on the knockdown, Connor said: “There was no way I wasn’t dragging myself up off that canvas.” The defeat took Connor, 26, to 8-1 after four consecutive wins in Full Contact Contender. Guaylupo, 21, extended his unbeaten record to 13-0.

Connor said this was only his second fight since a serious injury last year. He intends to let the swelling settle before returning to Manchester Top Team, with an active first year in the UFC his aim.