Jesse Arnett vies for Frederik Dupras’ SMMA Featherweight Championship in the main event of Samourai MMA 11. This transpires on August 30, 2024 from La Tohu in Montreal, Quebec. The broadcast of the bout takes place on UFC Fight Pass this Friday.
This fight is actually a re-booking with the initial June attempt falling out just hours before it was set to go down. The core issue in the situation is theorized to be food poisoning. Arnett lost around ten to twelve pounds of water during this episode per his account. He was rendered unable to even get off the floor earlier this Summer.
His team ultimately saw it in his best interest to call the bout off. Arnett, who has in the past fought with herniated discs and a blown back, begrudgingly accepted his circumstances. But the rescheduling turnaround was thankfully promptly sorted.
Jesse Arnett
Despite being a former TKO champion and the prolific Canadian MMA promotion running frequently at La Tohu, this will be Arnett’s first time competing in the revered venue. The venue also ties into this fight with Dupras as ‘Big Cat’ highlighted in this interview how his opponent was knocked out at La Tohu to a degree where there issues waking him up after.
Arnett explained how you never forget that kind of thing and the anecdotal experiences with the venue could weigh heavily on the mind and spirit of Dupras heading into this headlining title fight.
Many are seeing this as a prospect versus veteran matchup with excitement attached to capturing another belt but there is also excitement in beating someone in Dupras that the UFC seems to have their eyes on.
Considering Arnett was locked out of a UFC jump, per his account, because of Stephane Patry and TKO’s contractual dynamics with him, this would be a satisfying win even though Arnett realizes that based on his age he may not exactly be on the UFC’s radar in the same way Dupras is.
Jesse Arnett vs Frederik Dupras
Arnett stated that this is the first world beater Dupras has ever fought having competed with names like Ray Borg, Johnny Bedford, Josh Hill, as well as Darrick Minner to name a few. He has also captured gold in multiple divisions including the UAE Warriors featherweight belt and the TKO bantamweight belt to name a couple of his championship accolades.
This will be the Canadian combatant’s first new opponent in a couple of years after his championship trilogy in UAEW versus Ali AlQaisi.
Examining his opponent’s resume, Dupras has many guillotine choke-based finishes. He actually has seven first-round submission finishes by way of a choke across his seven pro-MMA wins.
In discussing the machinations of this matchup, Jesse Arnett suggested,
“If he can take me out, which won’t happen, he [doesn’t] need to go to Contender Series. He can go directly to the UFC. However, I’m more well-rounded. The only way he can choke me out is if I’m desperately shooting on him or if I’m scrambling up. I got some good Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu guys. I’ve been doing Jiu-Jitsu now [for] a decade.”
“He’s not going to just come in there and choke me. We’re gonna see how he does when we get him out of the first round. He’s never been out of the first round, never mind past three minutes. So it’s going to be interesting. It’s going to be fun the first three minutes, the first round. See how he reacts and I’m just going to see what he does and go from there.”
Samourai MMA 11
Arnett continued, “I can win the fight decision, I can win the fight submission, I can win the fight knockout. I think his only path to victory is a submission over me, I believe.”
While the great wrestling and BJJ are clear, Arnett has honed his standup at Bowmont Boxing as well as Muay Thai work with Kieran Keddle and ONE Championship combatant Jake Peacock over the years. He is now in Northern Ontario honing his skills these days at spaces like Steel City MMA and Leading Edge.
In terms of a prediction for how this contest will play out, Jesse Arnett stated,
“I think I get him out of there inside two rounds, to be honest. He’s going to be a little hard at the beginning because he’s so wild. But once I let him do his thing and blow himself out, I feel I’ll take the fight over and I feel the finish will be there.”
