UFC 297 prelims packed with Canadian talent, Fight of the Night candidates

Canadian fight fans will have plenty of local talent to cheer on this weekend when the UFC returns to Toronto for the first time in more than five years.

UFC 297 is headlined by an anticipated middleweight championship bout between American champion Sean Strickland and South African challenger Dricus Du Plessis, plus the women’s bantamweight title that Amanda Nunes vacated when she retired will be strapped around either Raquel Pennington’s or Mayra Bueno Silva's waist.

The pay-per-view portion of the card has a distinctly international feel with six countries and four continents represented. In addition to the two title fights, there’s a pivotal matchup with featherweight title implications between contenders Movsar Evloev and Arnold Allen, plus Canadians Mike Malott and Marc-Andre Barriault will look to get the home crowd on its feet when they face rugged veterans Neil Magny and Chris Curtis, respectively.

Canadian fighters went a combined 5-0 when the UFC returned north of the border at UFC 289 in Vancouver this past summer. Will we see similar success when the Octagon returns to Scotiabank Arena on Saturday?

UFC 297 preliminary card coverage begins on SN360 and SN+ at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT on Saturday. Here is a rundown of the scheduled prelims that feature a Canadian fighter in all seven bouts.

Brad Katona vs. Garrett Armfield

Canada’s Brad Katona owns a rare piece of UFC history. One half of the featured UFC 297 preliminary bout is the lone fighter to become a two-time winner of The Ultimate Fighter. Katona is 5-0 as a pro since being cut from his initial UFC stint and has rounded out his game with John Kavanagh and the SBG Ireland team Conor McGregor helped make famous. Katona typically thrives the longer his fights go, while Armfield tends to compete in a finish-or-be-finished sort of way. This is a spot for Katona to establish himself as a name for the ranked bantamweights to keep an eye on in 2024. Katona has only lost twice in his career and one was a decision loss to Merab Dvalishvili who could be the division’s champion by the end of the year. This fight wouldn’t have been placed as the bout leading into the pay-per-view portion of the event if UFC brass thought it was going to be a snoozer.

Charles Jourdain vs. Sean Woodson

Few non-ranked 145-pounders on the UFC roster can fire up a crowd the way “Air” Jourdain is able to. This featherweight tilt is a dark horse contender for Fight of the Night. A matchup of high-volume strikers – Jourdain lands 5.71 significant strikes per minute, while Woodson connects at 5.41 per minute – both of whom have multiple highlight-reel finishes in the UFC. Each fighter has been finished once in their career, ironically both courtesy of a Julian Erosa D’Arce choke less than one year apart. It was Woodson’s lone loss. The American is one of the tallest welterweights in MMA and is effective at using his reach. Jourdain often weaponizes his pace and cardio and look for him to work in his sneaky submission skills, too. Jourdain is coming off a first-round guillotine choke win over Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Ricardo Ramos in September and is looking for his first three-fight winning streak since his time on the Canadian regional scene five years ago.

Serhiy Sidey vs. Ramon Taveras

What happens when these rising 135-pounders fight inside a cage for the first time? Well, we have the answer – or at least a partial answer. We know Sidey can touch his opponent with his jab and find a home for a right hand powerful enough to send Taveras to the canvas. That’s how the Niagara Top Team bantamweight earned his place on the UFC roster, dropping Taveras early in their Contender Series bout in September.

The referee stoppage was considered premature by many watching, including Dana White, so after Taveras rebounded one month later with a 29-second win on the Contender Series, he jumped at the chance to avenge his loss to the Canadian. Sidey, who loves a good head kick as a preferred striking technique, has been preparing for his debut on the big stage ever since that win. Sidey has finished five of his six opponents on his current six-fight winning streak and Taveras has only gone the distance once in his 11 pro fights.

Gillian Robertson vs. Polyana Viana

These two strawweights have 17 combined submission wins and it’s entirely possible, likely even, that number climbs to 18 if this matchup ends inside the distance. Jiu-jitsu standouts Robertson and Viana are each coming off a loss and hoping to go on a run in 2024 that results in a top-15 ranking at 115 pounds. Viana earned performance bonuses in each of her past two wins, while Robertson is seeking her first performance bonus or Fight of the Night award of her UFC career.

Yohan Lainesse vs. Sam Patterson

Quebec’s Lainesse came out on the losing end in his all-Canadian matchup with Malott in his most recent outing 11 months ago and now he’s facing one of the tallest opponents of his career to date. England’s Patterson is moving up from the lightweight division despite standing 6-foot-3. Perhaps that will help the Brit's frame. Patterson’s two losses in MMA have been via knockout within the first 2 1/2 minutes of the opening round. He is coming off a 75-second knockout loss in his home country at UFC 286; Lainesse, meanwhile, is 1-2 in the UFC and although his lone victory was a split decision, the former Cage Fury champion had five first-round KO/TKO wins on his road to earning a UFC contract.

Jasmine Jasudavicius vs. Priscila Cachoeira

A Niagara Top Team teammate of Sidey and Malott, Jasudavicius knows what it’s like to hear the roar of the home crowd and hopes to feel that energy in her home province of Ontario. The 34-year-old made her Octagon debut in 2022 following a win on the Contender Series and has already amassed more than an hour of cage time having gone the distance in all five of her UFC fights. 

Refraining from being overzealous could serve the Canadian well against Cachoeira since the Brazilian boasts seven wins by KO/TKO and has shared the cage with former strawweight champion Valentina Shevchenko. Jasudavicius earned arguably the biggest win of her career when she beat Miranda Maverick by unanimous decision at UFC 289 in Vancouver this past June. Maverick bounced back from that loss with a submission win over Jasudavicius’s Saturday opponent, Cachoeira, suggesting Jasudavicius supporters will be hoping they can rely on the MMA math to check out and the Canadian returns to the win column. 

Malcolm Gordon vs. Jimmy Flick

The curtain-jerker at UFC 297 could end up being a delight for fans of grappling as these flyweights both possess some slick submission skills and could set the tone for these prelims. Both fighters are entering the event on two-fight skids and are fighting to keep their spot on the UFC roster, so expect urgency out of both corners from the opening bell. 

Gordon says his favourite grappling technique is “the one you’re weakest at” and his favourite striking technique is “the one you don’t see coming.” All of Flick’s pro wins have come by submission, while six of Flick’s seven career losses have been via KO/TKO. Gordon has grown under the tutelage of former standout UFC strikers Mark Hominick, Sam Stout and Glory kickboxer “Bazooka Joe” Valtellini among others, and should hold a striking advantage in this one. Gordon will also have the Toronto crowd on his side living and training in the GTA. The Adrenaline MMA product is 3-0 when it goes to the scorecards; Flick is 2-1 when the judges are required.