Dana White’s Contender Series: Ryuho Miyaguchi vs Matheus Soares Preview & Prediction

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Bantamweights throw down in the third fight of the night, as Ryuho Miyaguchi takes on Matheus Soares in a high stakes matchup.

Ryuho Miyaguchi vs Matheus Soares facts

What time are Ryuho Miyaguchi and Matheus Soares expected to walk out? 7 October 2026 at 1:00 am

Where is DWCS – Season 10, Week 9 taking place? Meta Apex, Enterprise, USA

What TV channel is DWCS – Season 10, Week 9 on? UK – Not televised / USA – Not televised

Where can I stream DWCS – Season 10, Week 9? UK – UFC Fight Pass / USA – Paramount+ & UFC Fight Pass

DWCS – Season 10, Week 9 card

Alivia Bierley vs Summer Onley (Women's Bantamweight)

Salhahuddin Everett vs Ozzy Martin (Welterweight)

Roque Conceicao Moreira Jr. vs Alexander Chavez (Flyweight)

Ryuho Miyaguchi vs Matheus Soares (Bantamweight)

Ivan Gnizditskiy vs Nell Ariano (Light Heavyweight)

Ryuho Miyaguchi: The Japanese prospect looks for redemption after defeat in his last showing

Boasting six KOs in seven professional wins, Ryuho Miyaguchi (7-1) is the rare fighter to make his Contender Series debut in the immediate wake of a loss. The Japanese fighter coughed up his undefeated record last time out on Road to UFC, losing by second round submission to Chungreng Koren. A karate based striker with an excellent kicking arsenal, Miyaguchi's strength of schedule leaves a lot to be desired. With that being said, it's worth noting that he has a victory over former UFC fighter, Teruto Ishihara, although it's telling that it's his only win where he didn't score a KO.

Matheus Soares: The Brazilian looks to prove that "I'm Ready" for the UFC

22 year old Brazilian, Matheus Soares (11-2) rides a four fight win streak into his first Contender Series showing, with three of those wins coming by way of ferocious finish. Indeed, "I'm Ready" has scored a stoppage in all but one of his professional wins, with nine KO victories to boot. A heavy pressure striker with brutal kicks and heavy hands, Soares has fought solid levels of regional competition throughout his young career to date; outside of a loss in the infancy of his career, the Brazilian's only setback has come against Macksom Lee, another fighter who made it to the Contender Series last year.

Ryuho Miyaguchi vs Matheus Soares prediction

Miyaguchi's dynamic striking style means that there's always a chance that he manages to land something unorthodox in the early goings to find a finish. Outside of that, I'm struggling to envision a scenario where he manages to get his hand raised here.

With the greatest of respect, the Japanese fighter has fought straight cans on the regional circuit; he only has three wins over opponents with winning records and two of the fighters in question had records of 8-6-3 and 14-13-3 when they fought him. By contrast, Soares has consistently fought, and largely beaten, solid regional level opponents, finding a finish more often than not.

The Brazilian is an aggressive early starter but still carries his power late, a state of affairs evidenced by the fact that all of his finishes have come in the first or third round. "I'm Ready's" Achilles heel looks to be in the grappling department, something that doesn't figure to be much of an issue against a striker like Miyaguchi. It's worth noting that the Japanese prospect has a considerable size advantage, but I don't think that's going to be enough to save him here.

I like Soares to score the finish here and I envision him doing it sooner rather than later.

Prediction: Matheus Soares to win by first round KO