UFC Edmonton: Mike Malott knocks out Joaquin Buckley with a second-round knee
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Event | UFC Fight Night: Buckley vs. Malott |
| Date | Saturday, October 17, 2026 |
| City | Edmonton, Alberta, Canada |
| Main event | Mike Malott def. Joaquin Buckley, KO (knee), round 2 |
| Co-main | Jasmine Jasudavicius def. Erin Blanchfield, UD (29-28 ×3) |
| Next UFC card | UFC 333, October 24, Abu Dhabi |
Canada’s Mike Malott delivered a knockout-of-the-year contender in front of a Canadian crowd in Edmonton on October 17, 2026, dropping Joaquin Buckley face-first with a knee in the second round of their UFC Fight Night main event.
Buckley came into the fight as one of the welterweight division’s most dangerous strikers, a fighter whose own highlight-reel knockouts have made him a fan favourite. Malott beat him at his own game: in the second round he timed Buckley’s forward pressure and landed a knee that ended the fight instantly.
Full main card results
| Bout | Winner | Method | Round |
|---|---|---|---|
| Welterweight | Mike Malott def. Joaquin Buckley | KO (knee) | 2 |
| Women's flyweight | Jasmine Jasudavicius def. Erin Blanchfield | Unanimous decision (29-28 ×3) | 3 |
| — | Cristian Perez def. Kyle Nelson | TKO | 1 |
| Middleweight | Marc-André Barriault def. Kyle Daukaus | TKO | 1 |
| Featherweight | Timmy Cuamba def. Louis Jourdain | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 2 |
| Featherweight | Mandel Nallo def. Nate Landwehr | TKO | 2 |
The co-main event was the bigger upset
Jasmine Jasudavicius, another Canadian, outpointed Erin Blanchfield on all three judges’ cards, 29-28. Blanchfield’s wrestling and submission game has carried her past most of the flyweight division; Jasudavicius stopped her takedowns and won the striking exchanges.
The timing matters. Two weeks earlier at UFC 332, Natalia Silva beat Wang Cong in a women’s flyweight title fight, which makes the division’s contender picture more open than it has been in years. A win over Blanchfield puts Jasudavicius close to the front of that queue.
Our take
Malott’s knockout is the result everyone will remember, and it should move him into a ranked welterweight fight against a top-ten opponent next. Welterweight is crowded behind champion Islam Makhachev, and a finish of Buckley’s quality is the kind of statement that skips a fighter past several names.
The bigger long-term shift is at 125 pounds. Jasudavicius over Blanchfield, a month after Silva’s title fight win, gives the women’s flyweight division new faces at the top for the first time since Valentina Shevchenko regained the title in 2024.
Five of the six main card bouts ended inside the distance, which made this one of the most entertaining Fight Nights of the autumn.
Where the welterweight division stands
| Status | Fighter | Latest |
|---|---|---|
| Champion | Islam Makhachev | Beat Ian Machado Garry, UFC 330, Aug 15 |
| Contender | Mike Malott | KO'd Joaquin Buckley, Oct 17 |
| Contender | Joaquin Buckley | Lost to Malott, Oct 17 |
| Former champion | Jack Della Maddalena | Lost the title to Makhachev, Nov 2025 |
Malott’s path to this point has been patient. He has never been rushed into the top five, and the UFC has used home-country cards in Canada to build him. That patience paid off in Edmonton: a stoppage of a fighter as dangerous as Buckley tells matchmakers he is ready for ranked opposition.
Buckley will be fine. He has lost before and come back with his best performances, and his style — explosive, unpredictable, built around big shots — guarantees he will always be one fight away from a highlight. But a knockout loss in a main event usually costs a fighter a step in the queue, and the welterweight queue behind Makhachev is long.
Jasudavicius' case for a title shot
Jasmine Jasudavicius has been one of the most underrated fighters in the women’s flyweight division: a strong grappler with steadily improving striking. Beating Blanchfield, whose wrestling is among the best at 125, removes any doubt about whether she belongs among the contenders. With Natalia Silva winning the women’s flyweight title fight at UFC 332 two weeks earlier, the division’s next title fight is wide open — and Jasudavicius has made the strongest case of anyone this month.
What's next
The UFC’s next card is UFC 333 in Abu Dhabi on October 24, headlined by Alexander Volkanovski against Movsar Evloev for the featherweight title. Full results from Edmonton are on our UFC Fight Night results page.