Fight week: Buckley-Malott headlines UFC's return to Edmonton; Las Vegas' Cuamba on the card
There's no UFC event on Thursday, but fight week is underway ahead of Saturday's UFC Fight Night in Edmonton, and a Southern Nevada fighter is on the main card.
UFC Fight Night: Buckley vs. Malott is Saturday, Oct. 17, at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta. The main card streams at 5 p.m. PT / 8 p.m. ET on Paramount+, with prelims at 2 p.m. PT / 5 p.m. ET.
The welterweight main event pairs No. 10-ranked Joaquin Buckley (21-8 MMA, 11-6 UFC) with No. 13 Mike Malott (14-2-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC). Buckley is a St. Louis knockout artist with signature wins over Colby Covington, Stephen Thompson and Vicente Luque. A six-fight win streak was followed by back-to-back decision losses to Kamaru Usman and Sean Brady. Malott fights in Canada for the sixth straight time and is headlining at home for the second time this year. He's on a four-fight win streak, most recently a third-round stoppage of Gilbert Burns in April that earned Performance of the Night. Early odds have generally listed Malott as a slight favorite at around -140, with Buckley near +120.
The co-main event is a clash of women's flyweight contenders: Erin Blanchfield (14-2, 8-1 UFC) vs. Jasmine Jasudavicius (15-4, 9-3 UFC). Blanchfield is ranked in the division's top five and is coming off a submission win over Tracy Cortez. Jasudavicius lost to Manon Fiorot, then bounced back with a decision over Karine Silva in April. The bout carries some personal heat too: Jasudavicius handed Blanchfield's training partner Fatima Kline her first career loss.
The Las Vegas angle
Bantamweight Timmy Cuamba, who fights out of Las Vegas, faces Contender Series graduate Louis Jourdain (9-3). It's Jourdain's first main-card fight. Cuamba is 2-3 in the UFC and 1-1 since settling at bantamweight, with a win over Chang Ho Lee and, most recently, a loss to Bernardo Sopaj. Odds have generally listed Jourdain as the favorite near -205, with Cuamba around +170.
Other main-card bouts: Kyle Nelson vs. Cristian Perez, Marc-Andre Barriault vs. Kyle Daukaus, and Mandel Nallo vs. Nate Landwehr. The prelims include Canadian heavyweight Tanner Boser vs. Jhonata Diniz, Melissa Croden vs. Chelsea Chandler, and Katlyn Cerminara vs. Mackenzie Stiller.
For Vegas fight fans, Saturday leads into later cards at the Meta APEX in late October and early November, and UFC 335 at T-Mobile Arena in December. Thursday is for film study.