When Melissa Croden first got her call to the UFC back in late 2025, she was offered a fight on a card in Vancouver, British Columbia. While she’s usually so reserved when walking out, the environment of the fight was impossible for her to ignore.
“That was a trip. It was it was a really cool memory like a big life moment that I’ll never forget walking out in a huge arena like that. I’ve never been in an arena that big before and I didn’t really expect to to really make a difference in in the experience and everything,” Croden said. “It was funny like before I walked out, I was like my stoic self – really focused, really concentrated. Then as I’m walking people are giving me high-fives and cheering me on and stuff – it’s hard not to smile in moments like that. I just really enjoyed it and immerse myself in the entire present moment of it.”
Following that fight and a subsequent short notice fight inside of the Apex, Croden wasn’t necessarily expecting a return to her home country. As you can imagine, with the reception she got last time, she was pumped to get that call again.
“I was really excited. I wasn’t expecting to get on the the game. The next Canadian card, honestly, because I know there’s lots of other Canadian fighters that are chomping at the bit to perform in the homeland,” she said. “So when my manager called me and was like, okay, we got it. We got you on the Canadian card. Here’s your opponent. Here’s the date. I was quite excited.”
Now she’ll look to feed off the crowd yet again as she faces Darya Zheleznyakova this Saturday. She expects a fight that the crowd is going to love and one that should help her move forward in this division.
“I think it’s going to be a really exciting fight because her and I both like to stand and throw hands. So I think it’s going to be like a crowd favorite fight. I think I think it’ll be yeah one to appease the gods,” Croden said. “I think I’m going to have to go with a good old-fashioned Croden TKO, third round.”
You can catch her bout with Zheleznyakova as part of the UFC Winnipeg prelims this Saturday. The card begins at 5pm EST and airs on Paramount+.
