For the first time in nearly nine years, the UFC will be making its way to Manitoba.
Winnipeg’s Canada Life Centre will play host to a UFC Fight Night event on April 18, the UFC announced Friday.
Headlining the card will be a five-round welterweight bout between Canadian fighter Mike Malott and Brazil’s Gilbert Burns.
Burns let it slip back in December that the matchup was being discussed, but a date and location had not been finalized.
“I think I’m gonna fight a Canadian dude called Mike Malott,” Burns was filmed saying late last year.
Burns, 37, is a one-time title challenger at 170 pounds but has lost his past four fights, including when he was stopped by Michael Morales in one round last May.
This will mark the third time the UFC has held an event in Winnipeg and the first time since 2017, when former lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos defeated former welterweight champion Robbie Lawler in a five-round main event.
The first time the UFC had an event in Winnipeg was for UFC 161 in 2013, when Rashad Evans beat Dan Henderson by three-round split decision in the headline bout. Both previous Winnipeg events also took place at the same venue, which is home to the NHL’s Jets.
The UFC held two events in Canada in 2025, with May’s UFC 315 in Montreal and an October Fight Night card in Vancouver.
Malott is 6-1 in the UFC with three wins in a row and fought on both Canadian cards last year. The 34-year-old member of the Niagara Top Team knocked out Charles Radtke in May and beat Kevin Holland by decision in October.
Fight fans can likely expect a strong contingent of Canadian fighters to be featured on the card with more announcements in the coming weeks.
