SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17 FROM THE ROGERS PLACE IN EDMONTON, ALBERTA, CANADA
PRELIMS 2 PM PDT / 5 PM EDT | MAIN CARD 5 PM / 8 PM
If this card feels oddly familiar: You’re right.
The UFC’s transition into a regional attraction show has left them with subsets of regional rosters, and this is, largely, your Canada Crew. We were just in Canada back in April, and half the card is composed of fighters who appeared there. Mike Malott, Mandel Nallo, Jasmine Jasudavicius, Julien Leblanc, Tanner Boser, Melissa Croden--hell, they hired Charles Jourdain’s kid brother Louis to take the place Charles had last time out.
Last time out Canada also got repeatedly shellacked, which is probably why this time around there are seven separate fights featuring native Canadian heroes fighting evil foreigners coincidentally coming off losses or losing streaks.
Including, say, the main event.
MAIN EVENT: TAKING CARE OF YOUR TOYS
WELTERWEIGHT: Joaquin Buckley (21-8, #10) vs Mike Malott (14-2-1, #13)
I dislike disliking prospects, man.
This phrase comes up often enough that I’ve started to wonder if I’m actually talking to you or just reminding myself, but I like mixed martial arts. I like being invested in the sport and the fighters tasked with carrying it into the future. It is this specific era of imbalanced treatment of said prospects that makes it difficult for me not to be consistently rankled by the way some people get treatment so favorable it not only elevates them up the rankings faster and more smoothly than their peers, but handicaps their opportunities to grow, as well as the audience’s opportunity to evaluate that growth.
There’s nothing wrong with Mike Malott. Mike Malott seems perfectly fine. But the company’s sheer insistence on pushing Mike Malott has been absolutely fucking exhausting.
I want you to think about how absolutely spoiled with talent the Welterweight division is. Think about the sheer critical mass of killers that have risen through its ranks over the last four years. Belal Muhammad. Shavkat Rakhmonov. Ian Machado Garry. Michael Morales. Carlos Prates. Gabriel Bonfim. Yaroslav Amosov. Sean Brady. Uroš Medić is on a killstreak. Daniil Donchenko is on his way up. Even in the lower ranks you’ve got dangerous dudes like Sam Patterson and Carlos Leal and Myktybek Orolbai. For all of the cynicism surrounding the sport, there are places where we are absolutely drowning in riches.
Unfortunately, as a reminder of why that cynicism exists, we’re going to look at Mike Malott’s entire UFC career and take note of who the company put in front of him over those four years.
Makes his 2022 debut by knocking out Mickey Gall, who was hired to potentially lose to CM Punk, didn’t, and was now 1 for 3 across the last three years
Follows that up with a submission over Yohan Lainesse, who was 1-1 with a knockout loss and a split decision win over the 0-3 Darian Weeks
Gets another submission against Adam Fugitt, who was 1-1 in the UFC, had only fought two people with winning records, and was out of the company six months later
From these great heights is given a top fifteen-ranked matchup against Neil Magny, who iss in his late thirties, hasn’t had back to back wins in years, and has been/will continue to be used by the UFC as a prospect measuring stick; Magny pounds Malott out in the third round
Is allowed to recover with a decision win over Trevin Giles, who is 2 for his last 6, had been knocked out six months prior, and, coincidentally, had already lost against Malott in a high-profile grappling match two years prior
Knocks out Charlie Radtke, who was 3-2 with victories only over people with more losses than wins in the UFC
Takes a decision over Kevin Holland, who is always tough, always fun, and also has one win against ranked competition in the last five years, during which time he is 7 for 18; Malott hits him in the dick twice, nearly stopping the fight after the second, but goes unpenalized
Finally ascends to a top fifteen ranking thanks to a knockout victory over Gilbert Burns, who was at one point nearly the Welterweight champion, but who, in 2026, is about to turn 40, on a four-fight losing streak including multiple knockout losses and hasn’t won a top fight since 2021; coincidentally Burns retires immediately after the fight
It’s grating, right? It’s so painfully obvious that it makes it harder to enjoy?
Let me make it more obvious: The last time Mike Malott fought outside of Canada was that Yohan Lainesse fight in the Apex. The UFC runs Canada twice a year these days, and Malott is on every single one of them. It’s not just about liking Malott: It’s about the UFC looking at their roster of prominent male Canadians (because Gillian Robertson and Jasmine Jasudavicius just don’t count, for some strange reason), realizing their only two options for top attractions are Mike Malott or Aiemann Zahabi, and throwing everything they have into the Malott bucket until he’s a goddamn star.
Joaquin: I’m sorry, but you are here so they can turn your bones into rocket fuel.
The UFC wanted Buckley to be a star, too. They’ve had hopes for him ever since he immolated Impa Kasanganay with that jumping spinning screw kick counter that went mega-viral back in 2020. (No, really. As of October 10, that was six years ago. Please go get checked out by your primary care provider, we’re all getting old.) Big-talking, big-swinging musclebound Middleweights are always a marketing favorite, and when you reliably record knockouts and some of them just randomly happen to be Tekken shit that no one has ever done before or will ever do again, that gets you a big, comfortable spot in their plans for the future.
At least, it does until you get stopped by Chris Curtis because no matter how good your knockouts are you’re still 5’10” and carrying so much muscle at 185 pounds that you gas out within two rounds.
Welterweight, though? Welterweight went much, much better for him. And the UFC was more than willing to help him out. Andre Fialho was a punching bag on two straight knockout losses when they fed him to Buckley. Alex Morono was struggling and entering the wrong side of his thirties. Vicente Luque was 1 for his last 3. Nursulton Ruziboev was a tough, fresh face! But they followed it up with a crack at former titlist Stephen Thompson, who was past 40 and losing much more than he wins. By the time they put Colby Covington in front of Buckley, he was 1 for 5 across the last five goddamn years.
Summer 2025 was supposed to be Buckley’s coronation as a title contender. Two full years of victory, six straight wins, undefeated at Welterweight, just finished punching Colby until a doctor stopped the fight because his face wouldn’t stop exploding. He was ready. It was his time. All he had to do was beat former champion Kamaru Usman, who had turned 38 a month prior and hadn’t won a fight in four years.
Buckley, of course, lost. It turns out Usman’s still good when he isn’t on a quixotic quest to conquer Middleweight. So, sure, that’s the streak over, but it’s okay! The UFC hates Sean Brady for being a stinky ol’ grappler, they just got him knocked out by Michael Morales, Buckley’s a stronger, more dangerous wrestler, so Buckley beats Brady and we’re right back on track, right?
Turns out Buckley couldn’t outwrestle Brady, either. Suddenly, in the space of two fights, Buckley goes from one of management’s heirs apparent at Welterweight to a failed prospect who just couldn’t hack it against the people they really wanted to get out of the way.
Which means now he, too, must get out of the way.
The math on Malott vs Buckley in the middle of Edmonton is not hard to figure. Mike’s bigger, he’s got more recent finishes, he’s a very solid wrestler and grappler and knockout threat in his own right, and by beating Buckley, he legitimizes himself as someone who can hang with a man who atomized multiple title contenders. They’ve spent years carefully crafting Malott’s path to the top ten since that Magny loss, and by sheer coincidence there’s only one person ranked #10-15 that’s on a losing streak, and conveniently, the path rolls right through that one, single man.
Which is even more reason I’m rooting for JOAQUIN BUCKLEY BY TKO. Yes, my deep love of watching marketing plans get derailed by monkey wrenches has a hand on the microphone, but I’m also just still waiting for Malott to impress himself on me as a top guy. A half-mobile Gilbert Burns smacked him repeatedly in the liver. Chuck Buffalo put some heat on him. Kevin Holland took him down and would’ve gotten a draw if his repeated low blows had been properly penalized. If this is the fight that finally cements Malott as undeniable, I’m down, but I think Buckley’s still underrated, and dealing with his power, chin and grappling for 25 minutes is a tough, tough ask.
CO-MAIN EVENT: I AM UNTETHERED AND MY RAGE KNOWS NO BOUNDS
WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT: Erin Blanchfield (14-2, #4) vs Jasmine Jasudavicius (15-4, #6)
One month ago, the Women’s Flyweight division lost its champion.
Good news, though: Women’s Flyweight is flush with contenders. Silva’s obviously a good choice--she’s #1 in the rankings, the UFC may have jumped her up the ladder a bit but she still won her way up there fair and square. But Alexa Grasso, Erin Blanchfield and Manon Fiorot are right there! At the time of the announcement Manon’s only UFC loss was still Valentina, Erin’s only UFC loss is still Manon, and Silva beat Alexa a year and a half ago, but since then Alexa’s notched a knockout-of-the-year candidate over the never-finished Maycee Barber and then she beat Manon, too. Any one of them would have been a solid choice. Even better news: They were all available! All three of them were booked to fight within the next month, so all you’d have to do is de-book one of those fights and slot them in!
Or, you know.
You could go with Wang Cong. Who got choked out by Gabi Fernandes two years ago, missed weight two fights ago, and got into the top ten by taking a decision over Tracy Cortez.
Who was coming off of a submission loss.
To Erin Blanchfield.
I have spent years writing about Erin Blanchfield being passed up for title shots while the UFC tries to use her to springboard more preferable contenders. Years. Years. Years. We have talked about it so god damned much that I’m frankly fucking tired of talking about it. It was already stupid three fights ago. It was even stupider last November, when they stuck her on the fucking prelims. It reached the absolute pinnacle of its stupidity when the title suddenly became available, and she was passed up in favor of a barely-ranked challenger whose best win was the woman Erin had just beaten before her, only faster, better, and in much more exciting fashion.
But no. Despite being a top-three contender for the last three fucking years, despite being objectively the more deserving titlist in every conceivable way, despite letting the UFC demote her from a main event to pay-per-view prelims under Bo fucking Nickal and serving them up one of the better submissions of the year, the UFC gave the title fight to Wang Cong which, unsurprisingly, she lost.
And now, two weeks later, Erin is fighting down in the rankings against Jasmine Jasudavicius.
On a one-fight winning streak.
In Canada.
One month ago we talked about Nathaniel Wood and how absolutely fucked it is as an indicator of the state of the sport that winning consistently doesn’t really matter anymore. Movsar Evloev has the second-longest winning streak in the UFC right now and the commentary team was still endlessly ripping on his need to make a statement to justify a title shot, while Aaron Pico and Losene Keita are fighting for a spot in the top fifteen. You know who beat Losene Keita, coincidentally? Nathaniel Wood. And as his case indicated, if they don’t like you, they will put you in side-quest fights over and over until, one day, someone gets you out of their god damned hair.
They don’t like Erin very much. The irony is, they don’t even like Jasmine Jasudavicius that much, either.
It’s not her fault. She’s really good! Her grappling is solid, her recovery is fantastic and she’s established herself as one of the best aggressive grapplers at Flyweight. Even at this deteriorated state in her career, you don’t choke out Jéssica Andrade without being really good at this.
Funny thing, though. You know who choked Andrade out two years earlier, when she was still a major threat on a winning streak?
Erin Blanchfield.
Women’s 125 isn’t a big world. There’s a lot of common ground between these two, and every part of it reads poorly for Jasmine. Erin beat a better Andrade. Tracy Cortez won a unanimous decision against Jasmine at the first Noche UFC in 2023; Erin strangled Tracy without even having control of her body.
They both lost a fight to Manon Fiorot! But Erin made it to the bell across a 25-minute main event and Jasmine got punched out in 74 seconds.
It’s deeply annoying to know that however much they file her away in the same fuck-these-grapplers boat, the UFC favors Jasmine because she’s helpfully Canadian and they would like to maintain regional marketing prominence. It’s silly. It’s frustrating.
It could totally work. Erin’s the favorite here, and she should be, but Jasmine poses a difficult match-up for her. Striking has always been the worst part of Erin’s game, and anytime she can’t get her grappling going as effectively as she needs to, things get hairy. Rose gave her trouble. Manon stumped her. Tracy may have gotten strangled, but not before winning the first round on all the scorecards. Jasmine’s stand-up isn’t traditionally the most technical, but it’s effective. She believes in it and her ability to push forward behind it. She’s bigger, she’s stronger, she’s traditionally really hard to take down, and even if you get her there, she’s solid enough from the bottom to keep herself safe.
But it’s still Erin, and I think she’ll get it done. ERIN BLANCHFIELD BY DECISION.
MAIN CARD: SAD_SLIDE_WHISTLE.WAV
LIGHTWEIGHT: Kyle Nelson (17-7-1) vs Cristian Perez Gonzalez (15-2)
There’s a little bit of a subplot to their matchmaking, here. Is their Canadian show chock-full of Canadians? Yes. Are all Canadians created equally? In the eyes of the matchmakers, no. Some of them, they could do without. Mike Malott? He gets favorable matchups. Kyle Nelson? They still haven’t fully forgiven him for stopping the triumphant return of Dooho Choi back in 2023. Or the debut of Blake Bilder. Or the rise of Fernando Padilla. Or for missing weight before Steve Garcia destroyed him. Nelson’s 1 for 3, and that single win is bookended by horrifying knockout losses. The first was that aforementioned facepunching by Garcia, and the last, this past March, saw Terrance McKinney operating within his optimal battery range and smashing Nelson in about twenty seconds. He’s hurt, he’s vulnerable, and he could use a gentle matchup.
He is not getting it. Cristian is one of those rare Contender Series prospects I’m actually interested in. He’s been around for years, he’s fought and beaten some solid competition, he’s got some very fun mix-ups that get people looking at his hands when he’s about to sneakily kick them in the goddamn head, and he’s got a solid enough sense of timing on his jabs that I’ve seen him drop people with them multiple times. It took two shots to get him through DWCS, though. His first chance was last year and saw him stopped by Manoel Sousa, which really isn’t anything to be ashamed of, as Sousa’s battle-tested and demonstrably great. I think the UFC decided they specifically wanted Cristian, as his second shot came against Logan Paxton, who had spent the last two years of his life fighting guys with records that ranged from 5-5 to 0-0 to the genuinely exceptional 14-53 Kerry “The Batterer” Lattimer, who is currently on a truly unprecedented six-year, 32-fight losing streak, 21 of which mysteriously and in no way suspiciously came in the first round.
Fun fact: Also on Lattimer’s losing list? Tommy McMillen. What a strange coincidence. Nelson, they put you in Canada so a Mexican guy could get over using your body, and I’m sorry, but it seems really likely. CHRISTIAN PEREZ GONZALEZ BY TKO.
MIDDLEWEIGHT: Marc-André Barriault (17-11 (1)) vs Kyle Daukaus (17-5)
Mr. Barriault, if they’ve gotten progressively less attached to our upper-paragraph buddy Kyle, they are even less attached to you. Once upon a time, Marc-André was a fun midcard player for the Middleweight division--a guy you could trust to go two and a half rounds with Anthony Hernandez or beat Eryk Anders. Now he’s 1 for 6. It’s been three years since he won two back-to-back fights, and one of those victories was over Julian Marquez who, himself, hadn’t won a fight in four years, and that was Sam Alvey, one of the most notorious fight-losers in UFC history, and the sudden realization that Sam Alvey could probably hang in the UFC at Light Heavyweight again with how much worse the division has gotten makes me want to quit the sport and figure out why anyone cares about rugby.
Save us, Kyle. Save yourself. Kyle had one of the better fight stories of 2025: After getting pushed out of the UFC on a 2-3 (1) record back in 2022 he went to the regionals, won a Cage Fury Fighting Championships title, and earned the incredible privilege of being brought back to the UFC as a last-minute replacement and a +200 underdog so Michel Pereira could stay on a card in Shanghai. But that was a night of upset knockouts, with Charles Johnson busting Lone’er Kavanagh and Johnny Walker taking out Zhang Mingyang, and Daukaus had by far the fastest, knocking Pereira out in 43 seconds. Even more impressively, two months later he did it again, choking Gerald Meerschaert in 50 seconds flat. Congratulations, UFC! You’ve got a neat new Middleweight finisher with two cool moments and a lot of momentum! What’re you gonna do with him?
The answer was “feed him to Bo Nickal at the White House.” Thanks for coming out, Kyle. Welcome to your make-up bout. KYLE DAUKAUS BY TKO.
BANTAMWEIGHT: Louis Jourdain (9-3) vs Timmy Cuamba (10-4)
We’re etching another entry into the stone tablets of fight brothers. Matt and Mark Hughes. Rodrigo and Rogério Nogueira. The Diaz brothers. Gilbert Burns and his equally good, equally accomplished sibling, Herbert. Last week’s contestant Leon Shahbazyan, who I will try not to kick while he is down (again). This week? It’s Louis Jourdain, brother and Bantamweight peer of Charles, best known for a nearly 50/50 UFC record, whining about judges and trans people when he loses decisions, and getting knocked out by Marlon Vera just about a month ago. Louis--who I am immediately biased against because “The Mad Prince” sounds like the nickname you give the Skyrim character you’re going to cheat up to full stats before the game even starts--has been doing a solid job up in the Quebecois fight scene. Nothing huge, no standout wins, but like his brother he’s an aggressive striker and he’s good at cutting occasionally surprising angles on his punches.
Timmy, you’re here to find out if he can cut it on the big show, too. Winning on DWCS is one thing, especially when your opponent is barely tested; winning in the UFC is another. Cuamba’s barely managed to scrape by on the roster, but he’s been tough as heck in each of his appearances, and unfortunately, that makes him a valuable measuring stick. Bolaji Oki, Lucas Almeida and Bernardo Sopaj were all tough losses, but knocking out Roberto Romero (even with a pretty iffy stoppage) and beating Road to UFC 2 champion Chang-ho Lee by decision (even if it was a narrow outgrappling) are keeping him afloat just long enough to see if Jourdain can join his brother as a new guy to book every time the company needs to fill a slot on a Canadian card.
I think he has enough juice. Cuamba’s better than he gets credit for, but Jourdain’s got a fast, active approach that I think will cut through Cuamba’s tendency to fight conservatively. LOUIS JOURDAIN BY TKO.
LIGHTWEIGHT: Mandel Nallo (14-4) vs Nate Landwehr (18-8)
When Mandel Nallo made his debut this past April I said his tape didn’t do a lot for me, but I neglected to mention the most important part of his story as a fighter and the most obvious reason for his inevitable downfall: They made him change his nickname from “Rat Garbage” to “Mango” and it killed him. I didn’t want to comment on it because I thought it was a personal choice, but apparently it was a mandate. I thought I would focus on his actual fighting and his actual history, but I forgot that combat sports subsist on a persistent sense of humor, and if you run afoul of that humor, like Samson shorn of his locks, you will fall. Jai Herbert knocked Mandel out in two minutes and now he’s fallen so far that he’s, uh, still on the main card.
Which goes for Nate Landwehr too, if we’re being honest. At one point, Landwehr had real momentum! Three fight winning streak! Beat standouts like Ľudovít Klein and David Onama! Cut coked out 1980s wrestling promos without the overt racism! But then he got his shot at the top and Dan Ige sent him back down the ladder. Ironically, if Nate had lost again, he might’ve done better. Instead an upset win over Jamall Emmers kept Nate in the relevancy conversation, and that meant spending the last two years getting knocked out over and over. Dooho Choi, Morgan Charrière, even Cub Swanson dropped Nate in one round during his retirement bout. It’s been ugly, and now Nate’s almost 39 and 1 for 5 and coming up a weight class and it’s not looking good.
Nallo’s bigger and he shoots straighter and he’s got better timing on his counters, and I think they’ve correctly assessed that he’s going to be able to pick Nate apart, especially if he isn’t ready for the jump in power from Featherweight to Lightweight. MANDEL NALLO BY TKO.
PRELIMS: DEBUT NIGHTS AND BEGRUDGING DIVISIONS
HEAVYWEIGHT: Tanner Boser (22-11-1) vs Jhonata Diniz (9-2)
Every single week the UFC’s “HEAVYWEIGHT IS BACK, BABY” press tour gets funnier. We’re in the middle of a cycle that already started with Allen Frye Jr. and RJ Harris having one of the lowest-skill-ceiling Heavyweight fights in modern UFC history, one week from now we’ve got Alexander Volkov defending his top contendership for the third consecutive time down in the rankings against the 2-1 Rizvan Kuniev, and on November 14 we arrive at Ciryl Gane and Josh Hokit fighting for the world championship. Of the world. But right here, in the middle of all of that, we’ve got Tanner Boser and Jhonata Diniz. Last April we discussed Boser getting drummed out of the UFC back in 2023, taking exactly one fight on the regional circuit in the interceding three years, and being welcomed back as the face of Canadian Heavyweights, which promptly got him knocked completely unconscious by Gokhan Saricam in two rounds. Saricam, of course, has yet to be booked again. But Boser’s back! And he’s here to fight Jhonata Diniz, who has already been forgotten despite being one of the most-pushed men in the UFC less than two years ago. Seriously! He won DWCS in 2023, he spent the first 2/3 of 2024 reaching the amazing heights of beating Austen Lane and Karl Williams, and in seven months and two fights they had him booked against Marcin Tybura for a spot in the top ten. Which he lost. Badly. He got a 29-28 against Alvin Hines--a man knocked out by RJ Harris, the aforementioned ceiling-lowerer--and then got himself mauled by Mario Pinto.
Just absorb that. Every time the UFC tells you the Heavyweight division is amazing again, think about there being less than two years separating “Jhonata Diniz is worthy of a spot in the top ten” from “Jhonata Diniz is fighting Tanner Boser on the prelims of a Mike Malott card.” Tanner’s still tough, if he can force Jhonata into the clinch he can fuck him up with elbows, but failing that, JHONATA DINIZ BY TKO.
MIDDLEWEIGHT: Julien Leblanc (10-3) vs Nick Galanti (8-1)
We were introduced to Julien Leblanc back at that April event in Winnipeg, where I explained that, while I respect anyone who gets in the ring and does the damn thing, qualitatively-speaking, he had some of the least impressive prospect tape I had ever seen. The UFC picked him to fight Robert Valentin, the guy they really wanted to win The Ultimate Fighter 32 (jesus christ) who instead lost the championship match to the otherwise 0-2 Ryan Loder (jesus christ) and went on to lose two more fights, including dropping a decision to Torrez Finney despite Finney hitting him with exactly 17 strikes in 15 minutes (jesus christ). Valentin, who was, objectively, unsuccessful, wobbled Leblanc with a big right hand, threw him down and choked him out almost effortlessly. So they’ve matched Leblanc up with Nick Galanti, a CFFC champion who is known for his big right hand and his really aggressive submission game.
Math is fun. NICK GALANTI BY SUBMISSION.
HEAVYWEIGHT: Javad Mahjoub (5-0) vs Joel Faglier (6-0)
I actually forgot about this fight when I was breaking down the Heavyweight schedule two bouts back, and then I got to it and remembered why. Javad is your Other Canadian Heavyweight, and he’s better known for his time as a grappler, partially for his run in Montreal’s arm of Quintet, but mostly for winning or medaling in a shitload of judo competitions and making it to the Olympics once in 2016 before switching to MMA because he’s actually from Iran and Iran doesn’t get to do things. As a mixed martial artist he’s 5-0 with, say the line with me, zero wins over opponents with winning records unless you count 2-1, which you shouldn’t. Joel Faglier has six wins, and one of them’s even over someone you might have heard of! But that someone is Cody East, who got knocked out of the UFC after going winless a decade ago and hasn’t beaten solid competition in nine years, or, arguably, ever.
Mahjoub looks really uncomfortable striking and Joel vastly prefers to punch, but as long as he sticks to the wrestling, JAVAD MAHJOUB BY DECISION seems likely.
WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT: Katlyn Cerminara (18-6) vs Mackenzie Stiller (6-1)
I gotta be honest: I’m a little scared of this fight. Katlyn Cerminara was an absolute standby of the Women’s Flyweight division for about six solid years, back when she was still Katlyn Chookagian, and her tendency to win was matched only by the sheer volume of bile she got from the internet for never finishing anyone. She challenged Valentina Shevchenko, she battered Jennifer Maia twice, she was a more or less constant contender. And then she went on hiatus after losing to Manon Fiorot in 2022 to try to have a child (which she was very open about her struggles with), and she’s only made one appearance in the last four years, and that was spent getting decisioned by Maycee Barber two and a half years ago. She’s barely active, she hasn’t won a fight in close to half a decade, she’s gonna be 38 in December, and the UFC wanted to use her to get Jamey-Lyn Horth back on the winning track, but she couldn’t make it, so instead we’ve got Mackenzie Stiller making her UFC debut after getting knocked out during the first round of The Ultimate Fighter 34 (jesus christ). She has one kind-of-okay win in her career, she’s essentially a pure grappler, and she’s only ever won one fight that got out of the first round.
Which means Katlyn should win--if there’s anything of her left. I think KATLYN CERMINARA BY DECISION is a safe bet here, but not only do I worry about what Katlyn looks like at this level of rust, I worry about what it’ll look like if she does win, stays in some way relevant, and gets matched up with more presently relevant women who could take her apart. Selfishly, I hope she still excels. Inwardly, I am torn.
BANTAMWEIGHT: Chad Anheliger (13-8) vs Steven Koslow (6-1)
Speaking of blasts from the past, we have this, a fight I can only describe as the equivalent of the UFC finding contracts they lost under the couch cushions. Chad Anheliger was a promising Canadian Bantamweight when the UFC hired him back in 2021: He’s now 1 for his last 4, he hasn’t fought in two years, and 4/5 of his UFC opponents are no longer with the company. Steven Koslow was a 6-0 prospect who’d never fought anyone with more wins than losses in his entire life when the UFC grabbed him as a late replacement for Cameron Saaiman. “Hey, I recognize Cameron because you referenced him last week, wasn’t he from awhile back?” Good eye! That fight was December of fucking 2022, Saaiman knocked Koslow out in the third round, and that’s the last time he showed up in the sport. He’s gone from a rookie prospect in his mid-twenties to almost 30 without a single bout.
What does he look like, now? What does the career arc look like for someone who went from fighting 4-4 guys in front of thirty people at an Orlando resort to fighting for the UFC at the T-Mobile, lost, and immediately disappeared? Do you think the UFC means well for him by pulling him out of mothballs to fight a Canadian in Canada who is the only person to ever professionally finish Brady Hiestand? CHAD ANHELIGER BY TKO.
WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT: Melissa Croden (8-3, #14) vs Chelsea Chandler (7-4, NR)
For years, I would get mad about Chelsea Chandler simply because she was ranked at Women’s Bantamweight despite having never, ever recorded a win at 135 pounds, as both of her UFC wins saw her miss weight. Good news: She has an official, honest to god 135-pound victory! Bad news: It was an armbar over Priscila Cachoeira, one of the division’s least successful fighters. Fortuitously for her, though, there’s only 24 women the UFC currently considers active at Women’s Bantamweight, so she gets to fight for a ranking again anyway. I had high hopes for Melissa Croden when she made her debut last year, and her debut was solid, but a loss to Luana Santos sent her to the back of the line and beating Daria Zhelezniakova has only just gotten her foot back in the door.
Presuming Chelsea is on-weight and ready, I still think Croden’s a bad match-up for her. Chelsea’s best work comes when she can bully her opponents and Croden’s too big and too good at using her size and distance. MELISSA CRODEN BY DECISION.
BANTAMWEIGHT: Cody Chovancek (9-0) vs SuYoung You (16-4 (2))
Poor, poor You. This sport’s sense of permanence is toddler-tier. You has held championships in South Korea and Japan, he won the the third Road to UFC tournament at 135 pounds, he beat company favorite Xiao Long, he’s been a very solid Bantamweight for a damn decade. But he got choked out by Elijah Smith in his last fight, so now he’s a betting underdog against Cody Chovancek, who only just graduated to fighting past the 50/50 circuit three fights ago. He was a champion in Toronto until he lost his belt on the scale, he knocked out Rafael Uchegbu on the Contender Series last year, and that’s good until you read Uchegbu’s record and see that the other guy who beat him somehow lost a decision to Kris Moutinho and then you stare out the window into the rain and wonder what the point of any of this is.
Either way, I will not abandon You. A winner is You. SUYOUNG YOU BY DECISION.