Canadian mixed martial artist Mike Malott, born on November 7, 1991, stands at an above-average height of 6 feet 1 inch (185 cm) in comparison to his fellow fighters in the welterweight division. Before joining the UFC in 2022, Malott competed in various promotions, including ECC, WSOF, SCC, XFFC, and Bellator. He began his professional career in 2011 at the Extreme Cage Combat (ECC) promotion, where he won via an armbar submission in the first round.
Malott earned his UFC contract by submitting Shimon Smotrisky with a guillotine choke in the ‘Dana White’s Contender Series’. Impressively, he quickly climbed the welterweight division rankings, securing stoppage wins over Mickey Gall, Yohan Lainesse, and Adam Fugitt over 14 months. Malott now prepares to face veteran Neil Magny at UFC 297, scheduled for this weekend at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Canada.
Although he was born and raised in Canada, Malott currently trains in Sacramento, California, with Urijah Faber at Team Alpha Male. In a recent interview on The Anik and Florian Podcast, Malott reflected on his upcoming fight venue, saying, “It’s the Scotia Bank Arena now, but all my friends and everyone in the area knows it as the ACC – The Air Canada Center.” He added, “When I was a kid, that was the best day of the year when my dad would come home and say, ‘Put the homework down. You’re not going after school activities. I got tickets from work. We’re going to watch the Leafs play.’ So this has been like the arena of my entire life, the ACC.”
In other news, Malott seems unfazed by the recent drama surrounding fellow UFC welterweight Ian Garry, expressing disapproval of fighters who cross the line pre-fight for promotional purposes. Garry, who has experienced criticism from his peers and had to withdraw from his bout against Vicente Luque at UFC 296, did not appear to evoke sympathy from Malott. In an exclusive interview, Malott explained, “I don’t care what he’s going through. These new age fighters say stuff, they say some things that are personal that cross the line, and then the fights over, and they hug a guy and say, ‘Oh, I was just saying it to sell tickets.’ Just because you’re doing something for money doesn’t mean it’s okay. Some of these things affect people’s lives outside of the cage.”
