August 25, 2026 · Atlanta, Georgia · Overtime Elite Arena
Cam Hazzard has won the inaugural DUNKMAN World Championship and the $500,000 grand prize. The 21-year-old from Dallas, Texas, who is triple-majoring in Accounting, Finance and Information Systems at Abilene Christian University, walked into Overtime Elite Arena in Atlanta as a top seed and left as the undisputed best dunker in the world.
Dunkademics has been filming Cam Hazzard since before anyone knew his name. We called it then. The rest of the world knows it now.
How It Went Down
Cam’s road to the title ran through three of the toughest dunkers in the field. He beat Joel Henry in the first round, then eliminated Isaiah Rivera, a 6’2” dunker with a verified 50.5 inch vertical, in the second. The final matched him against Dengxing Chen, the 5’9” powerhouse from Jinhua, China who had already turned heads by eliminating Mac McClung in the first round.
Hazzard’s peak score of 9.91 was the highest of the entire season according to DUNKMAN, and it came on one dunk: a 360 Underboth, finished 2-Hand.
The Upset Nobody Saw Coming: Mac McClung
Mac McClung, a three-time NBA Dunk Contest champion and one of the most recognizable names in the entire competition, did not make it past the first round. He lost to Dengxing Chen after judges reportedly deducted points for repeating a dunk too similar to what he had already thrown down in the group stage.
McClung did land his big attempt, a Quadruple Up inside a car. Execution was never the issue. Height was: it sat close to the dunk he had already done in Group Stage D, over two people inside a car. Chen answered with a Dubble Up Underboth over a person and two motorcycles, and that was the round.
The Robbery: Dillan McCarthy
The most controversial result of the night wasn’t the championship. It was Dillan McCarthy against Jordan Southerland.
McCarthy, 5’10” with a verified 52 inch vertical, one of the highest ever recorded, threw down an Eastbay Elbow Hang. At 5’10”, that dunk is something you just do not see in a dunk contest. The degree of difficulty alone should have been enough. He lost.
Southerland’s High Jump Dunk went viral almost immediately and earned him the Dunk of the Night award and a separate $50,000 cash prize. He went over the bar Fosbury flop style, on his back, and dunked the ball on the way across. It was undeniably spectacular. But those who know what it takes to hang off the rim on an Eastbay at 5’10” know what Dillan McCarthy did that night.
Isaiah Rivera vs. Dylan Haugen
Dylan Haugen, the youngest athlete signed to the DunkMan League, drew Isaiah Rivera in the first round. Haugen opened with a Hand-Off to Eastbay over a person, taken clean with no push-off. Rivera answered by punching a 360 Inverter, and that was the swing of the round.
Haugen came back for a Hide-And-Seek, one of the hardest dunks in the sport, and could not get it down. Rivera advanced.
With the round already decided, Rivera kept going anyway. He went for a 360 BTB, a 360 Behind-The-Back Between-The-Legs, and then a 360 Kamikaze. He missed both, and needed neither.
What This Means for Cam Hazzard
This win seals Cam’s position as the best dunker in the world. He won Group A of the league on premiere night, earned $35,000 in the group stage alone, and finished it by taking the whole thing. He is now $500,000 richer, and will be ready to defend his title next year for $1,000,000.
Before the championship, Cam came through for one last training session with Dunkademics. We’ve been documenting his journey from the beginning. Watch every Cam Hazzard dunk we’ve ever filmed, the full archive is right here.
Watch Cam Hazzard on Dunkademics →
Every DUNKMAN athlete competed on the biggest stage in dunk history. Dunkademics filmed them all before the spotlight found them.