Calgary bantamweight Melissa (Scare) Croden looks for second win in UFC

Melissa Croden (left) punches Tainara Lisboa during their women's bantamweight bout at a UFC Fight Night in Vancouver, B.C., Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns

In winning her UFC debut, Canadian bantamweight Melissa (Scare) Croden showed you don’t want to spend too much time with her in the cage.

Facing Tainara (Thai Panther) Lisboa on Oct. 18 in Vancouver, Croden had a slim 27-25 edge in significant strikes in the first round and a 33-13 advantage in the second. It was one-way traffic in the third, with Croden ahead 39-4 in significant strikes in the round before referee John Cooper stepped in to end the punishment with 28 seconds remaining.

“I’ve always been a slow starter on my feet. That’s nothing new,” said Croden. “A lot of people were speculating that it was the nerves of my UFC debut but honestly it felt like any other fight.”

Some timely advice from her corner after the first round, about moving her feet more, helped her get into the flow.

Lisboa, who bloodied Croden in the first round, was lucky to survive the second. And the Brazilian was the nail not the hammer in the third, with Croden (7-2-0) battering her on the ground.

“I think I wore her out pretty hard by the end there,” said Croden.

Return to action

The 34-year-old paramedic from Calgary returns to action Saturday in Las Vegas against Brazil’s Luana Santos, ranked 15th among 135-pound contenders, in the UFC’s final show of the year. Croden calls it a “huge opportunity.”

And a dangerous one.

Croden expects Santos, an accomplished grappler with a black belt in judo, to look to bring the fight to the ground. Five of Santos’ nine wins have been via submission.

“I’m not afraid of being taken down … I get to display my grappling skills now, which I do have,” said Croden. “You don’t get into the UFC without knowing how to wrestle, knowing jiu-jitsu, knowing a little bit of everything as far as the grappling game.

“I’ll be interesting. I’m excited for the challenge. I’ve always known that at some point I would be facing a high-level grappler. And this happens to be the one.”

Croden rebuffed six of Lisboa’s eight takedown attempts in October.

Santos (9-2-0) is also coming off a win over Lisboa, via second-round submission (keylock) in May in Las Vegas. The 25-year-old Brazilian is 4-1-0 in the UFC with the lone loss at the hands of Scottish-born Australian Casey (King) O’Neill at UFC 205 in August 2024.

Santos landed both her takedown attempts against Lisboa, controlling her on the ground for seven minutes 57 seconds — glued to her opponent like a leech.

Saturday’s main event at the Apex pits American Brandon (Raw Dawg) Royval ranked second among flyweight contenders, against No. 6 Manel (Starboy) Kape of Angola.

There are three other Canadians on the UFC Fight Night card.

Strawweight Gillian (The Savage) Robertson, ranked 10th among UFC 115-pounders, takes on No. 5 Amanda (Amandinha) Lemos of Brazil while Jamey-Lyn Horth faces Czechia flyweight Tereza Bleda.

Lance Gibson Jr., was a late addition to the card Wednesday. The 30-year-old from Port Moody, B.C., will face American (King) Bobby Greene at a catchweight of 160 pounds.

Gibson’s father, Lance Sr., fought in UFC 20 and 24 back in 2000, meaning come Saturday the Gibsons will become the third father-and-son duo to compete in the mixed martial arts promotion, following Randy and Ryan Couture and Gilbert and Elijah Smith.

‘Bit of a blessing in disguise’

After dispatching Lisboa, Croden had hoped to fight again this year. She didn’t have to wait long, getting a call two or three days later from her manager asking if she was ready to go again Nov. 8 against Santos, filling in for the injured Dariya Zheleznyakova.

She said yes, only to learn she wasn’t medically cleared to fight again so soon. So the bout was pushed back to Dec. 13.

“A bit of a blessing in disguise,” said Croden, who at five foot nine will have a three-inch height advantage over Santos. “I had more time to recover from the last one, because that weight cut does take it out of you a bit.

“And I guess there were some shots I took to the head that the doctor didn’t, respectfully, like.”

While Croden’s fight was the first of the night on the Vancouver card, the Rogers Arena crowd was in fine voice when she walked out.

“Having an entire crowd, having an entire country stand behind you was something I will never forget,” she said. “It was quite surreal. I was really enjoying and soaking in the moment when I walked out.”

As the bout wore on, the arena echoed with a chant of “Let’s Go Croden.”

“That was so cool,” she said with a giggle. “I was like ‘What the …? Me?’”

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 11, 2025

Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press