UFC adds Canadian fighters to January UFC 297 card at Scotiabank Arena

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Canadians (Proper) Mike Malott, Marc-Andre (Power Bar) Barriault, Charles (Air) Jourdain and Serhiy Sidey have been added to the UFC 297 fight card slated for Jan. 20 in Toronto.

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The main and co-main events at Scotiabank Arena had already been announced.

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American Sean (Tarzan) Strickland will make his first middleweight title defence against South Africa’s Dricus in the marquee bout. American Raquel (Rocky) Pennington and Brazil’s Mayra Bueno Silva will meet in the co-main event for the vacant UFC women’s bantamweight title

Malott (10-1-1) will face veteran American welterweight Neil (The Haitian Sensation) Magny (28-11-0). The 32-year-old from Burlington, Ont., has won six straight, including three fights in the UFC, since earning his contract with a victory on “Dana White’s Contender Series.”

Magny is 21-10-0 in the UFC since making his debut in the promotion in February 2013. But he has lost three of his last five outings, losing a decision to Ireland’s Ian (The Future) Garry last time out in August at UFC 292.

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Barriault (16-6-0 with one no-contest) faces American middleweight Chris (The Action Man) Curtis (30-10-0). The 33-year-old native of Gatineau, Que., who now makes his home in South Florida, has won three of his last four.

Barriault, who lost his first three bouts in the promotion, is now 5-5-0 with one no contest in the UFC.

Curtis is coming off a no-contest at UFC 289 in June in Vancouver, where his bout with France’s Nassourdine Imavov was stopped due to a cut Curtis suffered from an accidental clash of heads. The 36-year-old Curtis lost a decision to veteran American Kelvin Gastelum before that.

The 31-year-old Curtis is 4-2-0 with one no-contest in the UFC.

Jourdain (15-6-1) is matched against American featherweight Sean (The Sniper) Woodson (10-1-0).

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Jourdain has won his last two outings. The 27-year-old from Beloeil, Que., made short work of Ricardo (Carcacinha) Ramos last time out in September, submitting the Brazilian in the first round to improve to 6-5-1 in the UFC.

The 31-year-old Woodson is unbeaten in his last four fights (3-0-1) and is 4-1-1 in the UFC.

Sidey (10-1-0) faces American bantamweight Ramon (The Savage) Taveras (9-2-0) in a rematch of the September “Dana White’s Contender Series’ bout that earned the 27-year-old from Burlington, Ont., a UFC contract.

The 29-year-old Taveras landed on his butt when he caught a left and right to the head, prompting referee Kevin MacDonald to quickly step in at two minutes 26 seconds of the first round. The TKO stoppage seemed premature with Taveras still defending himself.

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White, the UFC president, later called it “one of the worst ref stoppages I’ve ever seen.”‘ Hence the rematch.

Born in Ukraine, Sidey was six when his family moved to Canada.

The January card will be the UFC’s first in Toronto since Dec. 8, 2018, when then-featherweight champion Max (Blessed) Holloway won a bloody, lopsided TKO over No. 1 challenger Brian (T-City) Ortega during UFC 231 at Scotiabank Arena.

The UFC has held 32 cards in Canada, debuting in April 2008 with UFC 83 in Montreal with the most recent event being UFC 289 in June in Vancouver. The shows have taken place in 11 cities with Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Moncton, Ottawa, Quebec City, Saskatoon and Winnipeg also hosting UFC cards.

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