Every month, MMA Empire will bring you a comprehensive list of any and all Canadian fighters who will be competing in MMA events outside Canada. Check back every week to keep up to date with all the results.
December is a bit of a slower month for Canadian MMA, but that’s to be expected with the holidays and the year wrapping up. Six Canadians in action this month including a couple looking to stay unbeaten and a quartet of UFC fighters!
January 2021 picks up right where the holiday lull left off — a new year, but the same pandemic-era reality for Canadian fighters: domestic shows remain scarce, so the action that exists is scattered across American regionals and overseas cards. The handful of Canadians booked this month are spread across three very different stages, from Abu Dhabi to Arkansas.
That scatter is a feature, not a bug, for Canadian MMA's development pipeline — exposure to different rulesets, time zones and opponent styles is part of what hardens regional fighters into international-ready ones.
UAE Warriors 15 – Abu Dhabi – January 15
TV: Youtube
141 lbs- Jesse Arnett (17-6) vs. Elias Boudegzdame (16-6)
135 lbs- Louis Jourdain (5-2) vs. Avliyohon Hamidov (9-3-1)
UAE Warriors has quietly become one of the more Canadian-friendly international promotions — its Abu Dhabi cards regularly feature Canadian fighters looking for high-level regional experience and a path back toward the major leagues. This event doubles down on that: two Canadians on the same card is a significant Canadian presence on an overseas show.
For fighters coming off layoffs or between major-promotion stints, the Abu Dhabi circuit has offered something the pandemic-era Canadian scene simply couldn't: consistent dates, real purses and broadcast visibility.
Arnett-Boudegzdame in particular carries real weight. Boudegzdame is a former regional champion with international experience, and for Arnett — one of the most experienced Canadians on the circuit — a matchup like this is exactly the kind of resume-building fight that can reopen doors at a higher level.
Jourdain-Hamidov is the card's other Canadian interest: Jourdain is an earlier-stage pro still building his record, and an overseas fight against a winning opponent is precisely the sort of experience that accelerates a young fighter's development faster than staying on home soil.
UFC on ABC 1 – Abu Dhabi – January 16
TV: TSN3 – 1 p.m. EST
135 lbs- Sarah Moras (6-6) vs. Vanessa Melo (10-8)
UFC on ABC 1 is a notable one for the promotion — its first card on a major American broadcast network — and Moras getting a spot on it speaks to where she sits in the bantamweight picture. Facing Melo, a durable veteran, on network television is the kind of exposure Canadian fighters rarely get outside the marquee events.
For Moras, the stakes are career-shaping: she has spent several years bouncing between wins and setbacks in the UFC, and a performance on a card this visible offers a chance to stabilize her standing in the division.
The timing matters too — this event opened the UFC's 2021 calendar and drew one of its bigger viewerships of the year, meaning a strong showing would put Moras in front of an unusually large audience for a prelim-level bout.
Peak Fighting 7 – Arkansas- January 30
TV:
160 lbs- Justin Condie (2-0) vs. Daniel Staggs (0-1)
Peak Fighting is a smaller regional, but cards like this are where Canadian careers are quietly built — especially for fighters early in their professional runs. Condie at 2-0 is at the stage where staying active and stacking wins matters more than the size of the banner above the cage.
The catchweight listing is common on small shows where matchmaking options are thin; what matters for Condie is getting rounds and keeping the undefeated record intact while waiting for bigger opportunities to materialize.
All told, it's a lean month on paper but a strategically diverse one — Canadians testing themselves at every level of the sport simultaneously, from a first-time network broadcast to regional cards fighting for survival in a difficult year.
