​VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA – OCTOBER 18: Kevin Holland has his hands wrapped prior to his fight during the UFC Fight Night event at Rogers Arena on October 18, 2025 in Vancouver, British Columbia. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLC) Mystery solved?Season 10 of Contender Series is currently underway, with three weeks already in the books (results here). For the past two weeks, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) CEO Dana White has been boasting about something he rarely discusses publicly: fighter pay.During the Week 2 post-fight press conference, White revealed how much money fighters who graduated from Contender Series have collectively earned in UFC.“I’ve got one for you that I wanted to share with you guys,” White told reporters. “This thing started in July 2017. From that date until today, the fighters who have made it into the UFC from the Contender Series have made $225.3 million. Talk about an opportunity.”🚨 Dana White says fighters who earned UFC contracts through the Contender Series have made a combined $225.3 MILLION pic.twitter.com/BT8HXjC0Lj— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) August 19, 2026In the grand scheme of things, $225.3 million spread across nine years and hundreds of fighters might be a drop in the bucket compared to what UFC athletes should be earning, so perhaps it isn’t quite the flex White believes it is.Nevertheless, it is still a substantial amount of money.Following Week 3 on Tuesday night, White dropped another fascinating fighter-pay nugget.“This show has paid fighters who have come off it, like, $225 million over the last 10 years, and one of the guys who never fought for a world title has made over $11 million,” White said. “Staying active and keeping yourself out there and in everybody’s face is not only good financially, but you have a very limited amount of time to make a lot of money in any sport. So, staying active is the move. I love it.”Most fans immediately pointed toward Kevin Holland.Although Holland did not receive a contract after winning on Contender Series in 2018, he remains an alumnus of the program and joined UFC shortly afterward.“Trailblazer” has competed an incredible 29 times since joining the promotion, collected 10 post-fight bonuses and headlined three UFC events. No other non-champion from Contender Series has come close to matching his activity level.Apparently, however, Holland is not White’s mystery man—or at least that is what he initially claimed.“That fighter’s not me,” Holland said in an Instagram Story. “I’m just now waking up. I’ll tell you all right now, that fighter’s not me. Don’t listen to that s—t.”Holland also responded to a graphic about White’s comments, writing, “Boss talking about someone else. Wish it was me.”Kevin Holland says he’s not the fighter Dana White was talking about here 😅“That fighter is not me. Don’t listen to that sh*t.”(via @Trailblaze2top) https://t.co/Qgo6GNvHw8pic.twitter.com/Oggd0Yv