Valentina Shevchenko has fought for the women’s bantamweight championship and is next in line to fight for the women’s flyweight championship, but Tuesday night was about another member of the Shevchenko family, her sister Antonina.

The third episode on the second season of Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series (DWTNCS) was headlined by Antonina, who was a big favourite in her fight against short-notice opponent Jamielene Nievera.

After a record four contracts were handed out at the end of last week’s show, it was looking like earning a contract this week would be a tall task for all 10 fighters competing.

The first fight featured Jordan Williams, a fighter who has used his platform to promote diabetes awareness and he is aiming to prove that he can compete at a high level despite being a Type 1 diabetic.

Williams did just that when he defeated Tim Caron with elbows in the third round after dominating the entire fight over his outmatched opponent. After the victory, the camera showed UFC President Dana White looking somewhat unimpressed, despite Williams’ dominant showing.

A familiar face competed in the second fight as Julian Erosa made his return to The Ultimate Fighter Gym (where these fights take place) as an underdog against former LFA featherweight title challenger Jamall Emmers. The fight was very competitive until the second round when Erosa executed a combination punctuated by a head kick, followed up by ground strikes to score the finish. The win put him in a favourable position to earn another shot in the UFC.

The next fight pitted DWTNCS Season 1 competitor Greg Rebello, who was unsuccessful the first time around, against short-notice opponent Josh Parisian, who accepted the fight only four days prior.

Parisian put an exclamation mark on the opportunity when he landed a flush spinning back fist knockout early in the first round. Following the loss, the 36-year-old Rebello retired from mixed martial arts.

The fourth fight turned out to be a short one as Arizona-based Te Edwards put on a show, landing a huge right hand that put out his opponent Austin Tweedy in under 30 seconds and essentially guaranteed him a contract. It was the fifth straight first-round victory for the heavy-handed lightweight.

It was then time for the headlining fight that pitted Shevchenko against Nievera. Early in the fight, Nievera attempted to take Shevchenko down and test her on the ground, but most of the first round was dictated by Shevchenko, who fought at a faster pace implementing a far superior stand-up game.

In the second round, Shevchenko opened up a large cut on Nievara, but after being checked over by doctors, she was allowed to continue.

Ultimately, Shevchenko proved to be too much for Nievara as she defeated her with brutal knees from the clinch, and she landed many of these throughout this lopsided fight.

My two contract selections

This was a tough call because in my eyes there were four fighters worthy of a contract. Te Edwards was a no-brainer, but I was torn between the dominance of Shevchenko and the flashy finish by Parisian as a short-notice replacement.

Ultimately, I decided to side with the name value of Shevchenko with the knowledge that she would be an instant contender in the UFC. While she recently scored back-to-back wins after a 12 year absence from MMA, her Muay Thai mastery will make her a tough out for any opposing fighter.

Dana White’s contract selections

White agreed with my selections and ultimately gave contracts to Edwards and Shevchenko.

While it was a tough decision, White did say that he will be keeping his eye on Erosa and hopes to sign him if the UFC is in need of a late-notice replacement. Additionally, he gave Parisian a slot on the next season of The Ultimate Fighter that features heavyweights and women’s featherweights.

Parisian seemed disappointed with the end result, but was pleased that he would get the opportunity to earn more money if he happened to win on the show.

Highest ceiling

Based on age, it is hard to go with anyone other than Edwards. The 27-year-old has been knocking opponents out in the first round consistently and hasn’t lost a fight in nearly four years. His power is going to make him a difficult opponent for anyone.

Biggest question mark

Parisian is just 28, which is quite young compared to most heavyweights. He hasn’t faced a lot of high-level competition outside of Rebello and 44-year-old Tony Lopez, who was the last opponent to defeat him.

Putting him on The Ultimate Fighter will be an interesting test to determine how much upside he has, but from what we saw on this episode, the future is potentially very bright.

The second episode set a very high bar for what it takes to earn a contract and unfortunately Parisian and Erosa were unable to secure a spot in the UFC despite two very good performances and exciting finishes as sizeable underdogs.

DWTNCS takes a week off during International Fight Week, but returns on July 10 with perhaps the best prospect competing this season. As announced on the show, Kevin Aguilar will be headlining the next episode against undefeated Joey Gomez in what will undoubtedly be a very competitive matchup. Many feel that Aguilar should already be in the UFC as he has defended the LFA featherweight championship on three occasions against very high-level talent.

Gomez, meanwhile, has won three of his last four fights in the first round and recently won the Prime Fighting lightweight title. Gomez should have a slight size advantage over Aguilar in this fight.

Rangy prospect Bevon Lewis will also compete next week. The undefeated 5-0 middleweight, who trains at Jackson-Wink MMA, has drawn comparisons to teammate Jon Jones, regarded as one of the greatest fighters of all time.

The Dana White Tuesday Night Contender Series airs Tuesday nights at 8 pm ET during the summer on UFC Fight Pass.