A Dozen Finishes: UFC Edmonton Ties Modern-Era Record With 12 Stoppages in 13 Fights

Twelve stoppages, one piece of history

The judges at Rogers Place had the easiest night of their working lives. By the time the dust settled on UFC Fight Night 291 in Edmonton on Saturday, 12 of the 13 fights had ended inside the distance — tying the modern-era UFC record set just two months ago in Belgrade, and giving the Canadian crowd a night of carnage that began with 11 straight stoppages to open the card.

Only one bout went the distance all evening: the co-main event. Everything else ended by knockout, technical knockout or submission, in a blur that forced the UFC into record competition for its post-fight awards. Four fighters banked an extra $100,000 in Performance of the Night bonuses, while eight more collected $25,000 finish bonuses — the promotion's new reward tier for stoppages that miss out on the headline cheques.

The record book will show that August's UFC Fight Night 283 in Serbia still holds the tiebreak for violence: all ten of its first-round finishes came inside the opening frame, producing the lowest total fight time in modern UFC history for a card with double-digit bouts. Edmonton managed five first-round finishes of its own — but spread the destruction across all three rounds, and packed it into 13 fights instead of 14.

Nallo announces himself

The performance that best captured the night belonged to Mandel Nallo. The 30-year-old Canadian, an ex-Bellator standout fighting in his second UFC outing, put on a striking clinic against longtime Octagon veteran Nate Landwehr, attacking the leg relentlessly until an early second-round knockdown led to the finish — a TKO at 0:47 of round two that was as one-sided as it was emphatic.

MMA Junkie's report noted that Landwehr, who left the cage with his face badly bloodied, looked "absolutely overmatched" from the opening exchanges. The defeat was the 36-year-old American's fourth in a row, and while he removed his gloves afterwards, he stopped short of any retirement announcement. For Nallo (15-4 MMA, 1-1 UFC), it was a first UFC victory and a $100,000 bonus — the kind of breakthrough that turns a roster spot into a talking point.

Barriault: "I ain't going nowhere"

If Nallo was the night's revelation, Marc-Andre Barriault was its emotional anchor. The 36-year-old Canadian middleweight, fighting in front of home fans, had to survive the early grappling of Kyle Daukaus before finding the clinch, landing heavy elbows along the fence, securing top position and swarming with ground-and-pound until the referee stepped in at 4:28 of the opening round.

The win snapped a two-fight losing skid for Barriault (18-11 MMA, 7-10 UFC), who had changed camps in advance of the fight — and he was in no mood to talk about winding down afterwards. "I'm 36 years old — I ain't going nowhere," he told Paul Felder in his post-fight interview. "I want to keep representing Canada. I'm super proud to be here."

It was a sentiment the Edmonton crowd understood. MMA Junkie observed that the night had "started out as a pretty rough night for local fighters," and Barriault's comeback — $100,000 richer for it — gave the home fans a hero to go with the history.

The fastest 27 seconds of the year

No record night is complete without a blur, and Cristian Perez provided it. The UFC debutant needed just 27 seconds to flatten Kyle Nelson, landing a knee before pouring on punches along the fence — the fastest stoppage on a card full of them, and the 11th consecutive finish to open the event. It was the kind of debut that makes matchmakers' jobs easy and opponents' lives difficult.

Perez was one of two debutants to make an unforgettable first impression. Nick Galanti, the biggest betting favorite on the card at 7-1, lived up to the billing by taking down Julien Leblanc on his first shot and finishing with a painful face crank in just 86 seconds — a statement win for the 9-1 prospect.

Elsewhere, the comeback of the night belonged to Joel Faglier, who was lit up in a 10-8 first round by fellow newcomer Javad Mahjoub — scored that way by two of the three judges — only to watch his opponent punch himself out and take over for a relatively easy second-round TKO. The $100,000 bonus was barely adequate compensation for the scare.

Depth of the destruction

The prelims were every bit as violent as the main card. Katlyn Cerminara returned after 31 months away — during which she became a mother — to stop Mackenzie Stiller with 14 seconds left in the first round, snapping a two-fight skid and earning her first win since May 2022. Timmy Cuamba earned the first submission win of his career with a rear-naked choke of Louis Jourdain. Tanner Boser ground down Jhonata Diniz deep into the third round before finishing him. Steven Koslow, fighting for the first time in nearly four years, submitted Chad Anheliger. Chelsea Chandler and SuYoung You both finished with kimuras — Chandler's coming as a heavy underdog against Canada's Melissa Croden.

Headliner Mike Malott also collected one of the four $100,000 Performance bonuses for his victory in the main event. But this night belonged to no single fighter. Two months after Belgrade set the bar, Edmonton matched it — and in doing so, proved that the modern UFC's finishing boom is not a one-card anomaly. It is the new normal, and it is spectacular to watch.