Mike Malott KOs Joaquin Buckley with a knee at UFC Edmonton
The Canadian jiu-jitsu black belt wins his fifth straight; Jasudavicius beats Blanchfield and moves toward a shot at Natalia Silva
Mike Malott knocked out Joaquin Buckley with a knee at 2:32 of the second round in the UFC Edmonton main event on Saturday night, October 17, at Rogers Place in Canada. Fighting at home, the Canadian jiu-jitsu black belt picked up his fifth straight win at welterweight.
In the co-main event, another home fighter came through: Jasmine Jasudavicius beat Erin Blanchfield by unanimous decision, 29-28 on all three cards, and put herself in the conversation for a shot at Brazilian flyweight champion Natalia Silva.
How Malott finished Buckley
The first round was a feeling-out process. Malott landed body kicks and low kicks while Buckley walked forward, waved him in and briefly knocked him off balance with a right hook. It was a close round, with neither man in trouble.
In the second, Buckley closed the distance and clinched. Malott reversed the position, pinned him on the fence and dug knees to the body until they separated. Moments later, as Buckley stepped in again, Malott timed a knee to the face. The mouthpiece flew, Buckley went down and one right hand on the ground ended it.
The win caps Malott’s turnaround in the division. Since losing to Neil Magny in January 2024, he has beaten Trevin Giles, Charles Radtke, Kevin Holland, Gilbert Burns and now Buckley. During fight week, as VF Comunica reported in its weigh-in coverage, Malott did the talking while Buckley stayed silent with the media.
Malott’s jiu-jitsu and Buckley’s skid
Malott is a jiu-jitsu black belt with six submission wins in MMA. Going in, the storyline was his ground game against Buckley’s power, as we laid out in our UFC Edmonton preview. In the end, he beat Buckley on the feet, in the American’s preferred territory.
For Buckley, the loss deepens his worst stretch since his win over Colby Covington in December 2024. He dropped unanimous decisions to Kamaru Usman and Sean Brady and has now lost three in a row.
Jasudavicius beats Blanchfield, eyes Natalia Silva
Both Blanchfield and Jasudavicius treated the fight as a flyweight title eliminator. The belt belongs to Natalia Silva, who won it at UFC 332 earlier this month. Jasudavicius took two of three rounds on every scorecard and earned the 16th win of her career.
There is history here. Silva already beat Jasudavicius by unanimous decision in 2022, in the Brazilian’s UFC debut. As VF Comunica noted in its eliminator story, the official rankings still have other names ahead, and the UFC has not announced Silva’s first title defense.
A night of finishes in Edmonton
Only one of the 13 fights went to the judges. According to the UFC, the first 11 all ended early, tying the promotion’s records for most consecutive finishes to open a card and most finishes on a single event.
There were seven knockouts or TKOs and five submissions, including two kimuras on the prelims: Su Young You tapped Cody Chovancek in the third round, and Chelsea Chandler caught Melissa Croden late in the first. Timmy Cuamba and Steven Koslow won with rear-naked chokes.
The only Brazilian on the card, Jhonata Diniz of Curitiba, who had fired back at Sean Strickland and Paulo Costa over UFC pay before the event, lost to Tanner Boser by TKO with 34 seconds left in the third round, in his first fight in a year.
UFC Edmonton full results
- Mike Malott def. Joaquin Buckley by KO (knee and punch) at 2:32 of Round 2
- Jasmine Jasudavicius def. Erin Blanchfield by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Cristian Perez def. Kyle Nelson by KO at 0:27 of Round 1
- Marc-Andre Barriault def. Kyle Daukaus by TKO at 4:28 of Round 1
- Timmy Cuamba def. Louis Jourdain by submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:48 of Round 2
- Mandel Nallo def. Nate Landwehr by TKO at 0:47 of Round 2
- Tanner Boser def. Jhonata Diniz by TKO at 4:26 of Round 3
- Nick Galanti def. Julien Leblanc by submission at 1:26 of Round 1
- Joel Faglier def. Javad Mahjoub by TKO at 2:11 of Round 2
- Katlyn Cerminara def. Mackenzie Stiller by TKO at 4:46 of Round 1
- Steven Koslow def. Chad Anheliger by submission (rear-naked choke) at 4:31 of Round 3
- Chelsea Chandler def. Melissa Croden by submission (kimura) at 4:52 of Round 1
- Su Young You def. Cody Chovancek by submission (kimura) at 4:19 of Round 3
What do you think: does Mike Malott deserve a top-5 opponent next? Let us know in the comments.
Read more:
- UFC Edmonton tonight: start time, card, Malott’s jiu-jitsu
- Mike Malott fires at Joaquin Buckley as both make weight
- Natalia Silva: Blanchfield, Jasudavicius in title eliminator
