UFC Edmonton: Buckley vs Malott - Oct 17 🇨🇦

[wandshogun09]

Back in Bret Hart country…

PARAMOUNT+ MAIN CARD
Joaquin Buckley vs Mike Malott 

Erin Blanchfield vs Jasmine Jasudavicius 

Kyle Nelson vs Cristian Perez 

Marc-Andre Barriault vs Kyle Daukaus 

Louis Jourdain vs Timmy Cuamba 

Mandel Nallo vs Nate Landwehr

PARAMOUNT+ PRELIMS
Tanner Boser vs Jhonata Diniz 

Julien Leblanc vs Nick Galanti

Joel Faglier vs Javad Mahjoub

Katlyn Cerminara vs Mackenzie Stiller

Chad Anheliger vs Steven Koslow 

Melissa Croden vs Chelsea Chandler 

Su Young You vs Cody Chovancek 
 

 

Christ. Not into this one. Main and co-main are completely logical matchups and they’re not even the weakest Fight Night headliners we’ve seen. But I don’t find myself looking forward to either fight really. Barriault vs Daukaus and Nallo vs Landwehr are the picks of the bunch on the main card and, even then, all four guys are coming off losses. That says something about this card. Prelims are a total wasteland with the exception of maybe the Mahjoub and Chovancek debuts. Eh. Not for me this. Although what do I know? The shitty cards have been overdelivering lately. Maybe this one will too.

 

 

Joaquin Buckley vs Mike Malott as main event is doing absolutely nothing for me. Perfectly fine matchmaking but it doesn’t move me in any way, shape or form. Don’t love it, don’t hate it, just total indifference. So this’ll be very much me just going through the motions.

Buckley’s 32 years old with a record of 21-8 and 15 knockouts. Hasn’t had a terrible UFC run but his best and biggest wins are over faded versions of Colby Covington and Wonderboy Thompson. At least he beat up Covington. That’s always a bonus. For me though, the best thing Buckley’s done in the UFC is still that crazy sort of inverted enziguri kick KO over Impa Kasanganay back in 2020. If it wasn’t for the fact that fight was just an insignificant prelim, I think that would be talked about a lot more as one of the best knockouts in UFC history. For pure style points and uniqueness, it might well be the best ever. And chances are it’ll never be replicated. But yeah, overall, Buckley’s kind of levelled out. He’s coming into this fight off back-to-back decision losses to an ageing Kamaru Usman and Sean Brady.

Malott is obviously gonna be the crowd favourite here. He’s from Burlington, Ontario, Canada. He’s 34 years old and 14-2-1 with 12 inside the distance. Never really been convinced myself. He’s not awful or anything but I don’t think he’s anything special either. I’ve still never quite been able to shake the memory of that Neil Magny fight, where Malott was winning and then somehow completely unraveled right at the end and got subbed. Also, at 34, he’s already kind of past the point of being considered a viable ‘prospect’ really, isn’t he? Canadian MMA has fallen a long way from the days of GSP ruling the ranks at 170. This is the best they’ve got now. He stopped Gilbert Burns in the third round in his last fight, in the main event of the Winnipeg card in April. But that was a last legs Burns who immediately retired in the cage post-fight. Besides that, Malott’s only other real notable win would be his decision over Kevin Holland but even that was marred by Malott landing a few bollock shots which seemed to alter the course of the fight.

Yeah, not feeling it. Maybe it’ll be a pleasant surprise but it’s one of them fights that I just don’t care about one way or the other. If I had to choose, I think Buckley should probably be winning but that’s more to do with my lack of belief in Malott than me really rating Buckley. Whatever happens, whatever the result, you can pretty much guarantee we’ll be subjected to more Malott headliners regardless just because Canada is one of the few markets they still run fairly regularly and he’s one of the only guys they can really plug into that spot. We’re stuck with him, I’m afraid.

 

Erin Blanchfield vs Jasmine Jasudavicius was originally supposed to happen at UFC 330 in August but Blanchfield picked up an injury forcing the delay. It’s a decent enough Fight Night co-main but I’m not expecting it to be very exciting. You never know but I see it most likely being a case of Blanchfield getting takedowns then not being able to do much more with them once it’s on the ground. Maybe they’ll surprise us. Jasudavicius is usually fairly watchable, I just don’t feel like she’s gonna have answers for Blanchfield’s wrestling. Blanchfield is 27 years old and 14-2 with 7 finishes. Her only loss in the UFC to date was a decision against Manon Fiorot. She rebounded with a points win over Rose Namajunas and then a submission over Tracy Cortez in her last fight on the MSG card last November. Jasudavicius is the home fighter here. She’s 37 years old and 15-4 with 6 finishes. She was on a nice little five fight win streak until she ran into Fiorot last October and got battered just over a minute into the first round. She came back with a decision win over Karine Silva on the Winnipeg show in April. 

 

Kyle Nelson vs Cristian Perez. Dunno. Nelson’s Canadian so that’s why he’s here. 35 years old, 17-7-1 with 10 finishes. He beat Matt Frevola on the Vancouver card last October but then became just another addition to the Terrance McKinney highlight reel in his last fight. McKinney blitzed him in just 24 seconds on that great Seattle card back in March. Never heard of Perez. He’s Mexican, 27 years old, 15-2 with 12 inside the distance and this is his UFC debut. He’s coming off a second round TKO on DWCS in August.

 

Marc-Andre Barriault vs Kyle Daukaus could be fun. Both guys are going nowhere but I think it’s a pretty well matched fight. Barriault’s a scrapper. Sometimes to his detriment but he’s usually in entertaining fights, win or lose. He’s Canadian, 36 years old and has a very journeyman-like record of 17-11-0-1 with 12 of his wins not making it to the judges scorecards. Rough times for him recently. He’s gone 1-5 in his last 6 and he’s coming off back-to-back points losses to Shara Bullet and Michal Oleksiejczuk. Daukaus is a Philly fighter, 33 years old and 17-5-0-1 with 14 finishes. He had a previous stint in the UFC that didn’t pan out well, went away and got a bunch of wins and was brought back to the UFC last year. He got off to a strong start in his return, knocking out Michel Pereira and subbing Gerald Meerschaert, both in under a minute each. He got stopped in a round by Bo Nickal last time out though on the White House card in June.

 

Louis Jourdain vs Timmy Cuamba. Again, don’t know. Jourdain is the younger brother of UFC veteran Charles Jourdain. Canadian, 29 years old and 9-3 with 6 finishes. He last fought on DWCS in September 2025, winning by third round submission. This’ll be his first Octagon appearance. Cuamba’s 27 with a record of 10-4 and 5 by KO/TKO. He’s fought a few times in the UFC, hasn’t had the best results and he’s coming off a submission loss against Benardo Sopaj at the Apex back in May.

 

Mandel Nallo vs Nate Landwehr is the easy pick as ***WAND’S ONE TO WATCH*** on this one, and the perfect choice to kick off the main card. Both are coming off losses but who cares? Can’t see any way this isn’t a wild and nutty dogfight for however long it lasts. Nallo made his UFC debut on the Winnipeg card back in April. He’s 14-4 with a 100% finish rate but he’s already 37, he came to the UFC late. I vaguely remembered him from Bellator years ago, where he scored some big knockouts. He lost a few as well but his name stuck in my head, so I was happy to see him make his way to the UFC. Unfortunately he got stopped by Jai Herbert in about two minutes but, as two minute fights go, it was a corker. Seriously, if you missed it, take two minutes out of your day and get it watched. A rollercoaster. Now picture that guy against Nate The Train.

Landwehr’s 38 years old, 18-8 with 11 finishes and he’s on a three fight losing streak. We last saw him on the Miami card in April, getting chinned by Cub Swanson in Cub’s retirement fight. What a lunatic though. I bring it up every time but if you somehow never saw his fight with David Onama from the summer of 2022, fix that immediately. I never want that to become a forgotten gem. I’ll keep the memory alive on here at least. He also has wins over Ludovit Klein, Darren Elkins and Jamall Emmers. He’s had his moments. But yeah, he’s floundering now. I actually think both guys coming off bad losses could make these two fight even crazier here.

 

Tanner Boser vs Jhonata Diniz. Low level Heavyweights. Enough said really. Go in with realistic expectations and get the fast forward button ready, just in case. Hopefully it’s short and sweet. Boser’s the Canadian in this one. He’s 35 years old with a record of 22-11-1. He fought in the UFC previously between 2019 and 2023, at both 205 and HW, to mixed results. He fought once in UAE Warriors in 2025 and made his Octagon return in Winnipeg back in April. Didn’t go well for him. He got stopped by UFC newcomer Gokhan Saricam. Brazil’s Diniz is also 35, he’s 9-2 in MMA and apparently had a bunch of Kickboxing fights as well. He’s gone 3-2 in the UFC and was last seen getting stopped by Mario Pinto on the Rio card last October.

 

Julien Leblanc vs Nick Galanti. Fuck knows? Leblanc’s a Canadian Quebecer but not Jacques or Pierre. He’s 34 years old and has a record of 10-3 with 8 finishes. Apparently he made his UFC debut on the Winnipeg show in April and got subbed by Robert Valentin. I don’t think I even saw that fight but it just about tells me all I need to know. Because Valentin is arse. If Leblanc is losing to him, and not just losing but getting finished in two minutes by him, there’s no hope. Galanti’s making his UFC debut here. He’s 28 and 8-1 with 6 finishes. Scored a 35 second TKO on DWCS back in August apparently.

 

Joel Faglier vs Javad Mahjoub. Again, low level Heavyweights and both making their Octagon debuts. According to his Tapology page, Faglier’s only 25 years old? He’s undefeated at 6-0 with 5 finishes. That’s about it on him. Mahjoub is Iranian but is based in Canada and fights out of the Tristar gym. He’s 35 years old and competed at the 2016 and 2020 Olympics in Judo. He made his MMA debut in 2022 and he’s gone 5-0 so far with four of his fights ending in the first round. Last fought in February, winning by first round armbar in Bret’s backyard of Calgary. Interesting. Obviously no spring chicken and he’ll probably end up being the Judo version of Buchecha or something, a complete flop. But we’ll see.

 

Katlyn Cerminara vs Mackenzie Stiller is whatever. Was supposed to be Cerminara against Jamey-Lyn Horth but Horth dropped out. Stiller steps in on short notice. She was on TUF recently. She’s 27 years old and 6-1 with 5 submissions. If you recognise Cerminara, she was formerly known as Katlyn Chookagian and fought a bunch in the UFC between 2016 and 2024. I was never a fan. Found her very dull to watch and, looking back at her record now, none of her eight years worth of fights in the UFC stick out in my memory as being enjoyable. She last fought in March 2024, losing on points to Maycee Barber. Before that she lost on points to Manon Fiorot. So she’s 37 years old and coming off back-to-back losses and a nearly three year layoff? Hasn’t won a fight since her split decision over Amanda Ribas in mid 2022. Not ideal. In fairness, I don’t wanna be too harsh on her. I remember around her last fight against Barber, she was talking about struggling after a miscarriage and I’m guessing that’s why she’s been away for a while. Wouldn’t wish that on anyone and, of course, boring fights aren’t important at all in that context. Hopefully she’s doing alright now.

 

Chad Anheliger vs Steven Koslow. Don’t know, don’t care. Pure filler. Anheliger is the Canadian here. He’s 39 years old and 13-8 with 10 finishes. He’s 2-3 in the UFC and hasn’t fought since November 2024 when he lost to Cody Gibson on points. Koslow’s a decade younger at 29 years old and he’s 6-1 with all his wins coming by submission. He’s only fought once in the UFC and was last seen in December 2022. Fuck me. What are we doing here? He got stopped in the third round by Cameron Saaiman that night. To put some context to just how long ago that was, that was the card where Jared Gordon got robbed against Paddy Pimblett. Where have they dug these two up from?

 

Melissa Croden vs Chelsea Chandler. Feel like a broken record at this point but I really don’t give a bollocks about this so I’ll just give you the Tapology info. Croden’s Canadian, 35 years old and 8-3 with 7 finishes. She’s gone 2-1 in the UFC so far. Stopped Tainara Lisboa in her debut, lost to Luana Santos, then beat Darya Zheleznyakova on points in her last fight on the Winnipeg card in April. I probably saw all three fights and couldn’t tell you a thing about how she looked. Chandler’s 32 years old and trains out of Cesar Gracie’s gym in Stockton, California. One of the last remnants of the old Diaz brothers gym and it’s Chelsea Chandler of all people. She’s 7-4 and coming off a first round submission win over Priscila Cachoeira back in June. If she’s remembered at all though, it’s from that meme of her running away from Norma Dumont that time. That’s gonna be her legacy.

 

Su Young You vs Cody Chovancek. Not a clue. Haven’t seen much of Su Young You. He’s 30 with a record of 16-4 and 8 finishes. He’s fought four times in the UFC and went 3-0 with three decisions initially but got subbed by Elijah Smith last time out. I remember that fight but no recollection of his wins. Chovancek is debuting here. Because it’s just what the roster needs, isn’t it? Another Cody. He’s Canadian, 28 years old and he’s unbeaten at 9-0 with 6 not seeing the scorecards. He last fought on DWCS in September 2025, winning by third round TKO. According to Tapology, his nickname is ‘The Best Fisherman In MMA’. What? Gregor Gillespie needs to make a comeback. Or sue for gimmick infringement.

 

Oh Canada! Cheers UFC. Yeah. Thanks a lot for this. 

Edited October 11 by wandshogun09

[wandshogun09]

Haven’t even got around to catching up on last week’s Apex show yet, probably won’t bother now, and this is almost upon us. Not sure when I’ll get around to this either if I’m being honest. It’s all about Dubois vs Wardley 2 in this house tonight. Here’s your usual fight day visuals anyway…

It’s not the worst card ever but there’s not much meat on the bone really. I’ll definitely pop my head in for Nallo vs Landwehr but the rest is gonna be skim city most likely. Buckley actually snubbed Dana’s handshake during the weigh in face-off. Proper left him hanging 🤣 Dana’s face was priceless. Buckley better win now after that. He also did some weird interview after, well he didn’t actually. The woman interviewing him asked him questions and he just stood in silence staring directly into the camera. Awkward. It all just feels fake and performative though. Seen people commenting on it going ‘I’m 100% more invested in this fight now’. But why? He refuses to shake Dana’s hand or talk so now I’m meant to care about a fight that I wasn’t arsed about before?

Anyway, while I’m here I might as well post this screen shot from an interview earlier in the week. Check out Jasmine Jasudavicius’ giant sandwich! Probably more interesting than any fight on this card, to be honest. Look at it. 

Edited 4 hours ago by wandshogun09

[Dai]

As for last weeks Apex, you have to watch the first two fights of the main card, if nothing else