Silvestre Sanchez had to spend real time solving Liam McCracken before the finish arrived, but the payoff was loud. Sanchez stopped McCracken at 2:44 of round three at DWCS Week 4 in Las Vegas, then left the Meta APEX with the UFC contract attached to it.
The official result had Sanchez defeating McCracken by TKO via punches. It was one of five contracts awarded from the September 1 Contender Series card, with Sanchez joining Adam Darby, Modestino Rodrigues, Gabriel Lorenco, and Adam Livingston in the latest UFC signing wave.
UFC News posted the official result below.
#DWCS Official Result: Silvestre Sanchez defeats Liam McCracken by TKO at 2:44 of round 3
Week 4 Results and Scorecards official link official media
— UFC News (@UFCNews) September 2, 2026
The fight needed more patience than the final sequence suggests. Sanchez worked leg kicks early and kept trying to bring the action to the fence, while McCracken used his jab, follow-up shots, and footwork to make those clinch attempts expensive. Sanchez finally dragged him down late in round one and briefly took the back, but McCracken escaped before the horn.
Sanchez Turned A Long Fight Into A Late Finish
Round two stayed nasty. Sanchez kept pressing, McCracken kept answering, and the pace made the matchup feel less like a showcase and more like a test of who could keep making clean decisions while tired. The UFC posted a live-fight clip while both lightweights were still trading.
THE BOYS ARE GIVING THEIR ALL
Liam McCracken & Silvestre Sanchez are putting on a fun one!
[ LIVE NOW on @ParamountPlus ]
— UFC (@ufc) September 2, 2026
The official finish clip captures the left hook that ended the fight:
A LEFT HAND FOR THE AGES 😳
Silvestre Sanchez with the clean hook to earn the knockout!
[ #DWCS | LIVE on @ParamountPlus ] official media
— UFC on Paramount+ (@UFConParamount) September 2, 2026
Sanchez finally broke the fight open in the third. The finish came after he hurt McCracken and forced the referee to step in at 2:44, ending a back-and-forth lightweight bout with the kind of late damage that tends to matter on Contender Series.
The win moved Sanchez to 10-1. McCracken dropped to 8-2 after entering the matchup with one of the card’s better backstories and a real chance to steal a contract if he could keep the fight at his range.
For Sanchez, the timing was perfect. MiddleEasy already covered the same card producing quick finishes from Gabriel Lorenco and Modestino Rodrigues, but Sanchez had to earn his contract the hard way. Three rounds of resistance made the stoppage look better, not worse.
