Four Canadians chasing victory at UFC Fight Night on TSN

The UFC returns to the Apex facility for Saturday’s Fight Night event and four Canadians will be looking to get their hands raised on the prelims, ahead of the main card headlined by middleweight contenders Jack Hermansson and Sean Strickland.

Marc-André Barriault, Hakeem Dawodu, Alexis Davis and Malcolm Gordon will all represent the Maple Leaf in the Octagon in Las Vegas.

Catch UFC Fight Night LIVE at 5pm et/2pm pt. on TSN5 and TSN Direct.

After a perfect 2021 that saw him earn victories over Abu Azaitar and Dalcha Lungiambula, Barriault will try to win his third fight in a row when he steps in against Chidi Njokuani.

The Gatineau, Que., native has completely turned his fortunes around in the UFC, after dropping his first three bouts in the promotion.

He credits the change to a re-dedication to fighting, which included a move from Quebec to Florida.

“It was kind of a reset you know, the last year was a game changer for me,” Barriault told TSN. “As soon as I joined the Sanford MMA team, I knew I had to make some sacrifices to be the best version of myself and that’s what I did man. I sacrificed everything, I moved down to south Florida and I just trained everyday, all day.”

Njokuani enters the fight after earning his place in the UFC with a victory over Mario Filipe de Sousa on Dana White's Contender Series. Though this is his first fight in the promotion, he has 10 more outings than the Canadian in his professional career.

“We know that Chidi is a good striker, he’s been around for a while, even if he’s making his UFC debut,” said Barriault. “The guy is a good marital artist, especially in the kickboxing and Muay Thai, so we took him very seriously.  The plan is just to be myself, make it an MMA fight.  I don’t want to