Spanish Bantamweight Hecher Sosa secured a coveted Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) contract last night (Tues., Sept. 16, 2025) during week six of Contender Series (results here), dominating previously unbeaten Brazilian prospect Mackson Lee en route to a unanimous decision inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada.
What makes Sosa’s performance even more remarkable is the heartbreaking reality that just one day before the fight, the 30-year-old lost his father.
Following the bout, UFC CEO Dana White
personally congratulated Sosa backstage while offering both condolences and praise for his resilience.
“Life can be very f—king mean and bad to a lot of people,” White said through a translator. “Life has been very, very wrong to him. What he did mentally and emotionally to overcome what he went through and still win tonight. Man, I’m really happy for him. I wish him all the best in the UFC.”
White then handed Sosa a handwritten note with a simple, powerful message:
“Be the f—king reason your last name means something one day.”
To make the victory even more bittersweet yet heartbreaking, Sosa revealed he said his final goodbye to his father before leaving for Las Vegas, knowing he might never speak to him again.
“Before coming here, I knew that I would probably never speak to my father again, and before leaving, I said goodbye to him,” Sosa told reporters afterward. “There were many things I still needed to tell him, but today I represented him in the best way he taught me. He always told me, ‘Always strong, always together.’”
Sosa (13-1) is now riding an impressive 11-fight win streak and boasts a 64 percent finish rate with six knockouts and three submissions. With Sosa being a former champion of The Way of Warrior FC (WOW) — a promotion co-owned by UFC Lightweight king Ilia Topuria — expect him to make his Octagon debut in 2026, potentially alongside his countryman.
For more “Contender Series” news and notes click here.
