Explore the exciting main card clashes at UFC 297, featuring the 14^th-ranked Chris Curtis facing off against Marc-Andre Barriault in a middleweight bout early within the card. Catch this matchup on Saturday, January 20, at 10:00 PM ET in Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Canada. Curtis enters as a favorite with a -180 moneyline.

In Curtis’s last fight, he had a no contest result in his battle against Nassourdine Imavov back at UFC 289 in June of last year. He has gone 1-2 in his three fights leading up to that event, so not a lot of positive momentum coming into this matchup.

He has put together 30 wins so far in his career, with 17 coming by knockout, one by submission, and 12 by decision. Seven of his victories have resulted in first round finishes and eight of his 10 losses have come by decision.

“Action-Man” strikes with an accuracy at 50 percent, but has yet to land any takedowns in the UFC. He averages 5.36 significant strikes each minute of action, but takes on 6.30. This is a slightly negative ratio, but is also a bit aggressive.

Curtis is not active yet on the ground in his time with the UFC thus far, as he also only has just one submission win. He also defends against significant strikes at 54 percent and against takedowns at 92 percent.

Barriault has won his last two fights heading into this battle, with positive momentum on his side. His previous success was a unanimous decision over Eryk Anders back at UFC 289.

He has earned 16 wins, accumulating 10 knockouts, one submission, and five decisions. He has ended six of his wins in the opening round of action, which bodes well with his chances to do it again soon. He also has four of his six losses coming by decision.

”Power Bar” averages a 47 percent success rate landing strikes but just 25 percent with takedowns. He lands 5.95 significant strikes and absorbs 5.22 in each minute of combat. This is slightly positive, but could easily go in the wrong direction with a thin margin.

Barriault lands 0.24 takedowns and 0.12 submissions per 15 minutes of fight time. He also has modest defenses against significant strikes at 54 percent and 67 percent against takedowns.

MyBookie has the betting odds for this UFC 297 matchup, showing that Chris Curtis is getting close to being a moderate favorite. With both fighters having appealing resumes, it opens the door to an excellent battle. This will likely be a striking war that could turn in either direction, but look for Curtis to get back on track.