Canada’s Marc-Andre Barriault snaps skid with huge knockout at UFC 315

Marc-Andre Barriault broke down in tears while sitting on top of the Octagon in his home province after earning a massive knockout victory over Bruno Silva during the early portion of the preliminary card at UFC 315 presented by Skilled Trades College.

Barriault had lost his past three fights, including two in a row by first-round knockout, but on Saturday night in Montreal, it was the Gatineau native who got his hand raised. 

After forcing a clinch and pressing Silva against the cage, Barriault unleashed several vicious elbows that dropped Silva to the canvas. A couple additional punches left Silva unconscious just 1:27 into the fight.

Barriault was on a 5-2 run in the UFC’s middleweight division before his recent three-fight skid that began early last year in Toronto at UFC 297.

Silva, who, like Barriault, is 35 and entered UFC 315 on a lengthy losing streak.

The Brazilian has had a string of bad luck and difficult opponents during his UFC tenure. Silva, the lone fighter to miss weight on Friday, started off 3-0 in the UFC and even took Alex Pereira to a decision in 2022, but has gone just 1-6 since then.

Silva regained consciousness but was being attended to by medical personnel for several minutes after the fight was over. He was removed from the cage on a stretcher for precautionary reasons.

Any UFC 315 athletes who require additional medical will be sent to Montreal General Hospital, roughly a 10-minute drive from the venue, which usually serves as the home arena for the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens.

Earlier in the night, Bekzat Almakhan set the tone in the opening bout of the prelims, picking up a 64-second knockout win over two-time Ultimate Fighter tournament winner Brad Katona in bantamweight action.

Kazakhstan’s Almakhan had not fought since losing his short-notice UFC debut against Umar Nurmagomedov 14 months ago. Almakhan also dropped Nurmagomedov early in that fight, but Nurmagomedov was able to recover and ended up winning a unanimous three-round decision. 

Winnipeg’s Katona had never previously been knocked out or finished in his pro career and this marked just the fifth time in Katona’s 19-fight career that did not go the distance.

Almakhan declared after the win that he will be a future champion in the 135-pound division, which is currently ruled by Merab Dvalishvili, who defends his title next month at UFC 316 against former champ Sean O’Malley.

South Korea’s Jeong-yeong Lee and Brazil’s Daniel Santos put on a show for the Canadian crowd in their 145-pound matchup with Santos sweeping the scorecards.

Santos replaced Lee’s original opponent, Gavin Tucker, earlier this month.

Welterweight star Ian Machado Garry, who was in Montreal to serve as the official main event backup fighter in case either Belal Muhammad or Jack Della Maddalena were unable to compete on Saturday, was in the corner of Santos, who’s a teammate of his at the Chute Boxe Diego Lima gym in Sao Paulo. 

Machado Garry made weight Friday and prepared to be on call-up until an hour before Muhammad and Della Maddalena make their walks to the cage.

Barriault and Katona were two of six Canadian fighters competing at UFC 315, which marked the organization’s first event in Montreal in 10 years.