Montreal — With his back to the wall on a three-fight skid, Canadian middleweight Marc-Andre Barriault came away from UFC 315 with a Performance of the Night winning knockout of Brazil’s Bruno Silva.
For the “Power Bar,” a Quebec native now living and training in Florida, the writing was on the wall. It was win or face being cut after a fourth straight loss. Win Barriault did, however, the finishing blows, a mixture of elbows and punches, enough to send Silva to the hospital, carried from the arena on a stretcher.
“I’m always improving, I’m always working on being a better version of myself, as a human but as a fighter also. So I think I proved tonight that I still belong here, and I want to stay here,” Barriault (17-9, 1NC) said following the fight, speaking with media outlets including Cageside Press.
Barriault also noted that the bout had been the last on his contract, and he’s hoping to stay with the company now that he’s back in the winner’s circle.
“It was my 15th fight in the UFC, it was also the last fight on my contract. So I want a new contract, I think I proved that I deserve a new contract. You guys are going to see me again for sure soon.”
15 fights into his UFC career, Marc-Andre Barriault agreed that it’s now harder to stay in the UFC than to get there.
“Yeah absolute. I feel nowadays it’s harder- it’s hard to get to the UFC, but to stay in the UFC, especially in my division, it’s so competitive,” he noted. Unlike many other modern UFC fighters, Barriault didn’t arrive through the Contender Series or The Ultimate Fighter. Instead, he went from Quebec regional show TKO (where he was double-champ at 185 and 205lbs) straight to the UFC, debuting in 2019.
“I feel like I’ve had my ups and downs but I always worked hard, and proved that I’m open minded to evolve, be the best version of myself,” Barriault said on Saturday. “And this is what I did after my last fight, especially after a brutal injury, a broken leg. I took some time just to [dig] deep down, and just work, work and make sure when I come back to my next fight, I can make a statement just like I did.”
The good news on top of that statement, Bruno Silva’s x-rays came back negative, Barriault was informed, to his relief, towards the end of his press conference appearance.
Watch the full UFC 315 post-fight press conference appearance by Marc-Andre Barriault above.
