Cameron Saaiman talks DWCS win and representing South Africa
Cameron Saaiman went into his Dana White’s Contender Series fight looking to make history in his home country of South Africa.
At the point of the fight, Dricus Du Plessis, who is currently ranked No. 13 in the UFC’s middleweight division, is the only fighter from South Africa on the UFC’s roster.
When Saaiman made the walk to the octagon, he had the goal of joining his teammate as just the second South African fighter to make the UFC and standing in his way would be a tough challenger in Josh Wang-Kim.
Both Saaiman and Wang-Kim came to fight in their meeting a few weeks ago and after two rounds, the fight was likely tied on the judges scorecards.
Heading into the last round, Saaiman’s corner was confident that as long as the fight stayed standing, Saaiman would be able to land a combination they were working on to end the fight.
A few minutes later, that exact thing happened as Saaiman secured a huge third round knockout that got UFC president Dana White out of his seat.
White was so impressed that he decided to give Saaiman a UFC contract and with the contract, Saaiman accomplished his goal and joins Du Plessis as the only two fighters from South Africa on the UFC roster.
The contract also makes Saaiman one of the youngest fighters on the roster as him and Muhammad Mokaev are the two youngest fighters in the UFC at just 21-year-old.
Following the win, Saaiman spoke with MyMMANews to discusses his the emotions of making South African history, the growth of MMA in South Africa, his relationship with Du Plessis and when he’s hoping to make his UFC debut.
You can watch his full interview in the video above.
A full list of results from Dana White’s Contender Series: Season 6, Week 5 are listed below:
Mick Parkin defeated Eduardo Neves via submission (Rear Naked Choke) – Round 1 (1:57)
Darrius Flowers defeated Amiran Gogoladze via TKO (injury) – Round 1 (1:13)
Jesus Aguilar defeated Erisson Ferreira via submission (Guillotine) – Round 3 (1:56)
Cameron Saaiman defeated Joshua Wang-Kim via KO (punch) – Round 3 (2:52)
Denise Gomes defeated Rayanne Amanda via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Bold Names received a UFC contract
