UFC prospect gets second chance 2 days after being released

Originally posted on MMA on SI | By Mathew Riddle | Last updated Jun 30, 2025 5:00 PM ET

(Zuffa LLC)

UFC second-chances do happen, in some capacity.

UFC 317 was marred by a hyper-short notice cancellation last week, as undefeated fighter Christopher Ewert missed weight for his late replacement fight with Jackson McVey.

Fight fans jumped to conclusions hearing the news that Ewart was immediately cut from the promotion after the withdrawal. With the UFC being as cutthroat as it is, it's not hard to believe they pulled in a fighter for a short-notice fight, and cut ties as soon as they tripped up.

Christopher Ewart rebooked for Contender Series after UFC 317 snub

Little-known Ewart was actually scheduled to star on 2025's Contender Series, before being brought in on short-notice at UFC 317. He's been granted that opportunity again, which, while quite savage of the promotion, is still nice to know that he's in the loop.

Ewart is set to compete on Week one of Dana White's Contender Series, this August on Tuesday the twelfth. His opponent, Yuri Panferov has a one hundred-percent finishing rate in eight professional victories, only dropping one loss by way of submission.

THIRD TIME IS THE CHARM

TORREZ FINNEY IS AWARDED A UFC CONTRACT ON #DWCS pic.twitter.com/HES1ECPcRb
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) October 2, 2024

Panferov is also getting a second shot at the UFC. That one loss came against Torrez Finney in 2023, so Panferov is competing again on DWCS. Finney notoriously took three attempts to get into the UFC, where he debuted successfully against Robert Valentin in April.

However, Finney's fight with Valentin sent fans to sleep, and now he's getting the UFC equivalent of a hit job against Azamat Bekoev at the APEX Arena on August 2. Bekoev, 20-3, is on a two-fight knockout streak inside the promotion, and called out Finney explicitly to please fight fans.