The UFC returns to Montreal, Quebec on Saturday for UFC 315, the first Canadian UFC event of 2025 and the promotion’s first visit to Montreal in a decade.
It’s almost unthinkable that the UFC has been gone from Montreal this long. Once upon a time, the Bell Centre was the UFC’s stomping ground, or at least Georges St-Pierre’s. One of the biggest stars the sport of mixed martial arts has ever seen, GSP dominated at the Montreal venue on multiple occasions, drawing some of the biggest, loudest crowds of the era.
Yet the promotion has not stopped in the city since UFC 186 in 2015, when Demetrious Johnson defended his flyweight title opposite Kyoji Horiguchi. A planned title fight between T.J. Dillashaw and Renan Barao fell through for that event, and a fight between Rory MacDonald and Hector Lombard was also scrapped, leaving the short-lived return of Rampage Jackson to the UFC (against Fabio Maldonado) as the co-headliner.
The event, needless to say, was a dud, barely drawing over 10,000 spectators in a venue that had drawn twice that for GSP vs. Nick Diaz just two years earlier.
Will UFC 315, featuring a pair of title fights (Belal Muhammad vs. Jack Della Maddalena and Valentina Shevchenko vs. Manon Fiorot) return the UFC to glory in Montreal? That remains to be seen. As for the fights themselves, including Jessica Andrade on the prelims, there are three former champions in action on Saturday: Andrade, Alexa Grasso, and Jose Aldo. If nothing else, you can’t accuse the UFC of not trying to build a solid card this time out. Two title fights. Three former champs. Not too shabby.
Our picks are in for UFC 315! Check below to see who we having coming out on top.
| Writer / Fight | Saint-Denis vs. Prepolec | Grasso vs. Silva | Aldo vs. Zahabi | Shevchenko vs. Fiorot | Muhammad vs. Della Maddalena |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eddie Law (49-30) |  |  |  |  |  |
| Alex Behunin (49-30) | |  |  | | |
| Chris Prawdzik (41-26) | | | |  |  |
| Patrick McCorry (44-29) | | | | | |
| Mathis Desjardins (46-33) | | | | | |
| Brett Cagle (46-33) | | | | | |
| Jay Anderson (45-34) | | | | | |
It’s a clean sweep for Benoit Saint-Denis in the main card opener, no surprise there. Opponent Kyle Prepolec is returning to the UFC on short notice, barely a week, to salvage the fight after Joel Alvarez pulled out due to injury. That’s a tough task for anyone.
Our crew sees Belal Muhammad retaining, meanwhile, but there could be a title change brewing in the UFC 315 co-main event!
