UFC Edmonton Preview: Buckley vs. Malott, Blanchfield vs. Jasudavicius, Fighters to Watch and Parlay Research

A hometown main event, a welterweight on a two-fight skid and two UFC debuts on the main card.

FantasyDailies | UFC Fight Night | Saturday, October 17, 2026

The UFC is in Edmonton tonight for UFC Fight Night 291 at Rogers Place, and the headliner pairs a welterweight trying to stop a slide with a Canadian on a four-fight winning streak. Joaquin Buckley meets Mike Malott in a five-round main event, and Erin Blanchfield meets Jasmine Jasudavicius in a women's flyweight co-main. Use this preview with the MMA hub for the full card, the UFC parlay builder to research tickets and the MMA articles for the latest.

FIGHT NIGHT INFORMATION

• Event: UFC Fight Night 291, Buckley vs. Malott.
• Date: Saturday, October 17, 2026.
• Venue: Rogers Place, Edmonton, Alberta.
• Main card: 8 p.m. ET, with preliminaries starting at 5 p.m. ET.
• Where to watch: Paramount+ in the United States; Sportsnet and TVA Sports in Canada.
• Weigh-ins: all 26 scheduled fighters made weight on Friday.

Start times and bout order can change, so check the official UFC schedule on fight night. Making weight confirms one hurdle, not that every fighter is injury-free, so watch for late announcements before you research any method or round market.

THE MAIN CARD AT A GLANCE

MAIN EVENT: JOAQUIN BUCKLEY VS. MIKE MALOTT

Buckley (21-8) is ranked in the welterweight top 10 and is 32 years old. He won six straight after moving to the division, including a knockout of Stephen Thompson and a doctor stoppage of Colby Covington, but he has lost his last two, both by decision to wrestlers, Kamaru Usman and Sean Brady, who controlled him on the mat for long stretches. Standing, he is dangerous with one-strike power. On the ground, the recent tape is the question.

Malott (14-2-1) is 27 and brings a four-fight winning streak, including a third-round stoppage of former title challenger Gilbert Burns in April, his first UFC main event, plus wins over Kevin Holland, Trevin Giles and Charles Radtke. He is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt who has finished fights by knockout and submission, and his only UFC loss came to Neil Magny at UFC 297. He is fighting in Canada for the sixth straight time and for the second time at home this year.

The matchup. The story is simple: Buckley's power against Malott's momentum, with the crowd on Malott's side. Buckley is the shorter fighter but has a three-inch reach advantage, and his recent losses came when he was taken down, so the first takedown attempt is worth watching. Malott is not the wrestler Usman or Brady is, which cuts both ways. If Buckley is not controlled on the ground, he gets to use his power. If Malott gets him there, he has the submission game to finish. Our call is not printed in articles; the MMA hub is the place to follow fight-night action.

CO-MAIN: ERIN BLANCHFIELD VS. JASMINE JASUDAVICIUS

Blanchfield (14-2) is ranked in the top five at flyweight, No. 3 in the UFC's Meta rankings and No. 4 in the media rankings, and is 8-1 in the UFC. Her last Edmonton fight was a unanimous decision over Rose Namajunas, and last year she avenged a loss to Tracy Cortez at UFC 322. Her game is grappling, positional control and submission threat.

Jasudavicius (15-4) is ranked in the top 10 and won on the last Edmonton card by third-round submission of Ariane da Silva, earning a Performance of the Night bonus. Her most recent fight was a decision win over Karine Silva in April, after a loss to Manon Fiorot in October 2025. The bout also carries a side story: Jasudavicius handed Fatima Kline her first career loss, and Kline is a close training partner of Blanchfield.

The key question is whether Jasudavicius can keep this off the mat and make Blanchfield earn each position, because rounds scored on control add up. A win moves either woman up the title picture.

OTHER MAIN-CARD FIGHTS TO WATCH

• Kyle Nelson vs. Cristian Perez (lightweight). Nelson is a Canadian veteran who has won four of his last six and beat Matt Frevola in Vancouver last October, after losing to Terrance McKinney in March. Perez, 27, is making his UFC debut after winning Dana White's Contender Series. He is 15-2 and has finished 12 of his 15 wins, split evenly between knockouts and submissions, and his last fight was a second-round stoppage of Logan Paxton. Veteran against a debutant who finishes.
• Marc-Andre Barriault vs. Kyle Daukaus (middleweight). Barriault, 36, is a Canadian who closes distance fast and makes fights chaotic. He has earned Fight of the Night bonuses in each of his last two fights but lost both, and he has one win in his last six. Daukaus, from Philadelphia, has rapid stoppage wins over Michel Pereira and Gerald Meerschaert in his second UFC run and lost by first-round stoppage to Bo Nickal. Chaos is the area where Daukaus has struggled before, and he has looked more composed lately.
• Louis Jourdain vs. Timmy Cuamba (bantamweight). Jourdain, 29 and the younger brother of Charles Jourdain, makes his UFC debut after the Contender Series with a four-fight winning streak and a third-round submission in his last fight. Cuamba, 27, is 2-3 in the UFC and 1-1 since moving to bantamweight, beating Chang Ho Lee last November and losing to Benardo Sopaj last time out.
• Mandel Nallo vs. Nate Landwehr (lightweight). Nallo, a Canadian in his second UFC appearance, is 14-4 with a no contest and has never gone to a decision. Landwehr, 38, moves up from featherweight after 26 fights there and is on a three-fight losing streak, each loss ended by stoppage. He is known for an all-action style and for earning bonuses. Both men are finishers, so expect action.

PARLAY RESEARCH: HOW TO BUILD A FIGHT TICKET

A parlay is a chain of conditions, and every extra leg is another way for the ticket to lose. Fight markets move quickly and prices vary, and we do not quote them here. Build on the UFC parlay builder, run any ticket through the parlay calculator, and use the odds converter to turn a price into an implied percentage.

• Wait for the final card. Late changes happen.
• Do not treat a favorite as a sure thing; one upset sinks the whole ticket.
• Do not stack legs that overlap, such as a fighter to win and the same fighter to win a certain way, without checking how the market prices them together.
• Debuts (Perez and Jourdain) carry more uncertainty than veterans with long tape.
• Keep stakes small and only bet what you can afford to lose.

The FantasyDailies illustrative ticket. Here is a two-leg research example built on how the fighters finish, not on who wins:

• Nallo vs. Landwehr ends inside the distance. Nallo has never gone to a decision, and Landwehr's last three losses all ended by stoppage.
• Nelson vs. Perez ends inside the distance. Perez has finished 12 of his 15 wins, though a UFC debut is always an unknown.

We do not quote prices here. Open the UFC parlay builder, add the two legs and see what the ticket pays. Both fights have to end early, a decision or a fight that goes the distance breaks it, and a late card change breaks it too. No ticket is guaranteed. For the full playbook, read the Sports Betting Strategy Book, and compare markets side by side on the heatmap.

WHY TONIGHT MATTERS

Buckley needs a win to stop his slide and protect his spot among the ranked welterweights. Malott can use a home main event to move up. In the co-main, the winner gets closer to the flyweight title picture. The main event is not a title fight, and the co-main has no announced title-eliminator designation, but both results will matter for rankings.

Stay on the MMA hub for results and look through more fight coverage in the MMA articles. You can also test your knowledge with MMA trivia while you wait for the main card.

MORE SATURDAY ACTION

If you are building tickets across sports tonight, the ALCS Game 4 is at 8 p.m. ET on the MLB live scoreboard, and the NHL has box scores on the NHL box scores. Start from the NFL hub, the MLB hub or the NHL hub for the rest of the weekend.

FantasyDailies: Your Edge Every Day.

Fight cards, start times and betting markets can change. Verify current information with official UFC sources. No wager or parlay is guaranteed to win. Please gamble responsibly.