DWCS: Dana White awards UFC contracts to four winners, discusses Sean O'Malley's upcoming surgery

LAS VEGAS -- For much of the existence of Dana White Contender's Series, fighters competing for UFC contracts were already in the second half of their careers and looking for a chance to hit the big time. But Week 6 of Season 8 on Tuesday at Apex represented something of a changing of the guard.

Four contracts were awarded and none of them were 30. Two were 22 and one was 24, a positive step forward in the UFC president/CEO's eyes.

"When you get these kids in some of these camps where they're training with some of the best in the world, you'll wind up with some talented guys," White said. "Back in the day, we wouldn't even think of taking someone [of that age] unless they were super phenoms. We were kind of looking at guys 25, 26 [and up]. But now, having these guys come in in their early 20s, it's awesome."

Lightweight Hassanzada choked Dylan Mantello unconscious in the third round of their bout in the opener. White said he wasn't going to take Hassanzada, who is 28, but matchmaker Sean Shelby really wanted him, so White acquiesced. 

Ateba Gautier because the second fighter in the UFC from Congo when he stopped Yura Naito with some brutal ground-and-pound. Naito left the Octagon under his own power, but couldn't make it to the dressing room. He was escorted back via stretcher and taken to a local hospital. White said Naito suffered a broken orbital bone.

Benjamin Bennett took a split decision over Joey Hart in a welterweight bout, but White said he didn't see enough from Bennett to offer him a contract.

The star of the night was 24-year-old heavyweight Talisson Teixeira. He knocked out Arthur Lopes with a perfectly placed right hand. Lopes came out aggressively and put the pressure on Teixeira. But Teixeira showed poised and did the job he was supposed to do in order to join the UFC roster.

"Crazy, talented kid," White said. 

White was impressed by Lopes, whom he suggested drop to light heavyweight, and said if there is an opening from someone dropping out of cards, he'll look to give Lopes a shot.

In the final bout, 22-year-old Elijah Smith won a decision over Aaron Tau and earned a contract. White said it looked like Smith was fading, but he roared back in what White called "an absolute dog fight." He's the son of veteran Gilbert Smith, who fought on The Ultimate Fighter and lost to Bubba McDaniel in 2013 in his only UFC bout.

'Suga' Sean to have surgery

In an appearance on Adin Ross' podcast, former bantamweight champion 'Suga' Sean O'Malley said he will have surgery to repair the labrum in his hip and will be out for a year. O'Malley, who lost his title to Merab Dvalishvili Saturday at Noche UFC, said the surgery is set for Oct. 3.

Jeff Mullen, the executive director of the Nevada Athletic Commission, said O'Malley did not disclose the injury during his pre-fight physical with commission doctors. 

It's a regular occurrence where fighters withhold injury information from the commissions. White said O'Malley didn't seem right during the fight, but said there is no way to compel the fighters to make doctors aware of their injuries.

"Literally, everybody reached out to be that night and said, 'Sean O'Malley didn't look like himself; he didn't look explosive,' " White said. "[It was] all the same stuff we were saying that night. That's not to take anything from Merab, but everybody felt that way."

Another new arena coming to Las Vegas?

There are already three good-to-large-sized arenas on Las Vegas Blvd., known as 'The Strip.' T-Mobile Arena seats around 20,000. The MGM Grand Garden holds about 16,000 and Michelob Ultra Arena at Mandalay Bay seats about 11,000.

Developer Tim Leiweke is building a 20,000-seat privately funded arena he hopes will land an NBA team for the city about four or five miles further south on Las Vegas Blvd. & Blue Diamond that Leiweke said is part of a development which has a $10 billion budget.

But White said he had a meeting Saturday with another developer about an arena project that TKO, the parent company of UFC and WWE, may get involved in. He wouldn't give details but said it's planned for the resort district in Las Vegas.

The UFC has an exclusive deal with MGM Resorts, but White has been at odds with them, which is why he said he took Noche UFC to Sphere on Saturday.

He said he did not know how much time is remaining on his exclusive deal with MGM. But even if the arena project he's talking about gets built, it's not even at the permitting stage and is years away.

But if TKO decides to get involved in the project, it could fill the venue with both UFC and WWE events.