Bolaji Oki discusses earning a UFC contract on Dana White’s Contender Series
Bolaji Oki is now living the ultimate dream as he is one of the newest members of the UFC roster.
Oki was able to make the UFC by taking advantage of the opportunity he was presented on the fourth week of the seventh season of Dana White’s Contender Series.
On that episode, Oki was the first fight of the night and he was coming into his matchup with Dylan Salvador as a betting underdog.
Part of the reason why Oki was the underdog, was the fact that Salvador was a world champion muay thai fighter before transitioning to mixed martial arts.
Well as it turned out, Oki was very aware of Salvador’s muay thai background and he knew exactly what he had to do in the early stages of the fight.
Oki noticed in his preparation for the Dana White’s Contender Series fight, that Salvador starts all of his fights out slow, but once he gets settled in, he becomes dangerous.
So what did Oki do? Never let Salvador get settled in.
As soon as the referee said go, Oki pushed the pace and was pressuring Salvador as much as possible.
Salvador never had a chance to get settled in and just over two minutes into the fight, Oki made his statement.
Oki hit Salvador with a hard punch to the body and the punch had Salvador hurt and on the retreat.
As Salvador backed away, Oki pounced on him and landed several shots, included two more big punches to the body that finished the fight.
The moment was special for Oki as he becomes the fourth fighter on the UFC roster from Belgium and he also gets to represent his African heritage.
Following the win, Oki did an interview with MyMMANews to discuss his performance, celebrating the moment, visiting Floyd Mayweather’s gym in Las Vegas and his heritage.
You can watch his full interview in the video above.
A full list of results from Dana White’s Contender Series: Season 7, Week 4 are listed below:
Carlos Prates defeated Mitch Ramirez by knockout (punch) – Round 2 (1:14)
Marco Tulio defeated Yousri Belgaroui by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Timmy Cuamba defeated Mateo Voge by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Thomas Petersen defeated Chandler Cole by submission (keylock) – Round 2 (1:08)
Bolaji Oki defeated Dylan Salvador by TKO (punches) – Round 1 (2:46)
*Bold names received a UFC contract
