Women’s bantamweight action has been added to UFC Vancouver, with Canada’s own Melissa Croden set to make her debut at the Fight Night event this October.
Croden (6-2) is set to take on Brazil’s Tainara Lisboa (7-3) in the 135lb match-up, which takes place at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia on October 18, 2025.
UFC officials announced the news on Wednesday, following an earlier report by MMA Junkie.
Croden is an LFA veteran who holds a win over Bellator MMA and The Ultimate Fighter alum Katharina Lehner among her six victories. She enters her UFC debut on a two-fight win streak, but has struggled to stay active, with the Lehner win coming in October 2023, and a victory against Ashley Deen following a year later. When UFC Vancouver rolls around, another year will have passed.
Lisboa is 2-1 under the UFC banner, but is coming off a loss to Luana Santos, and has fought just once since 2023 herself.
The UFC’s return to Vancouver is now headlined by Reinier de Ridder vs. Brendan Allen, with Allen replacing Anthony “Fluffy” Hernandez in the main event middleweight bout. The following match-ups have been reported for the card:
- Reinier de Ridder vs. Brendan Allen
- Kevin Holland vs. Mike Malott
- Marlon Vera vs. Aiemann Zahabi
- Manon Fiorot vs. Jasmine Jasudavicius
- Cody Gibson vs. Aori Qileng
- Kyle Nelson vs. Matt Frevola
- Charles Jourdain vs. Davey Grant
- Bruno Gustavo da Silva vs. Park Hyun-sung
- Danny Barlow vs. Djorden Ribeiro dos Santos
- Kyle Prepolec vs. Drew Dober
- Stephanie Luciano vs. Ravena Oliveira
- Azamat Bekoev vs. Yousri Belgaroui
- Melissa Croden vs. Tainara Lisboa
