Canada was always at a slight disadvantage in terms of developing MMA fighters.
Wrestling is not a big deal here. Obviously it exists but it's an actual major college sport in the US (and a sport that many kids actually start early on) whereas in Canada, many of the university teams don't even provide scholarships for wrestlers. It's basically just a club for some athletic students.
And that's only comparing us to the US. Think of how common combat sports are in many other areas of the world. Sambo, judo, boxing, karate, muay thai, BJJ... these are niche interests in Canada that people don't typically start until they're older but in other countries, these are really engrained in the culture and kids could develop a lifelong dedication to the sport after being introduced at a young age.
Canada greatly favors team sports like hockey, basketball, baseball, volleyball, soccer, etc so not a huge amount of the population is going to get exposed to sports that would actually translate well into a career in MMA. It obviously does happen but it's not like Canada was ever (or will ever) be one of the foremost countries for combat sports.
There's also the problem that Canada only has a handful of major cities and most of them are pretty far apart so there really isn't a network or a league to compete in with any regularity. Almost every town in the country has a place to play hockey so there are a lot of regional leagues of all skill levels but every MMA fighter I know has to travel pretty far (and often go to the US) to get fights. This travel is damn expensive too considering you aren't paid peanuts in MMA so this is a barrier for many people.
Factor in the insane cost of living in Canada and the completely unreliable source of income that is a career in MMA, I don't find it at all surprising that Canada isn't a major player in this sport. The USA has fallen off a lot as well... $8K to show as a fighter on the prelims in the biggest organization in the world isn't really going to be as attractive to someone living in North America as it is for someone living in a developing country.
I find it very funny that people just completely ignore this fact and fall for the UFC's marketing tricks that "they have the best fighters in the world" when the asterix beside it should read *who are willing to fight for the pittance we pay them.
When the UFC HW roster only has 30 fighters on it and someone in the top 10 is on a 5 fight losing streak, it does make you wonder where all of the big athletic guys are. Gee... maybe they're playing football where even being a bench warmer would pay you more than being a champion in the UFC lol
You can't recruit top tier talent without providing attractive compensation (or at least not stopping fighters from getting sponsorships FFS) but sure... let's all just ignore this and just assume 90% of the best fighters are suddenly only coming from developing countries after the Reebok deal. "The sport has evolved"
TL/DR: Combat sports are not big in Canada. A lack of Canadian talent is not surprising when none of the foundational skills are widely taught and a career in MMA is not really lucrative enough to lure many potential fighters in when many can barely afford to eat/own a car in this country as it is.
