Athletes
Mike Malott | Living The Dream
Canadian Welterweight On Professional Parallels With His Brother, Battling Kevin Holland On Saturday Night In Vancouver
“… And his brother is a UFC fighter!” boomed the announcer as Mike Malott’s younger brother Jeff, a forward for the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings, dropped the gloves against Colorado’s Josh Manson after the Avalanche defensemen delivered a crushing check to one of his teammates.
“He’s a big, strong kid; I would not want to have to fight him on skates, man,” the elder Malott said of his younger brother, pride resonating in his voice. “He’s earning that spot, that’s for sure. Six-four, 215 — kid’s using every pound of it.”
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Jeff’s ascension to NHL regular has coincided with his older brother’s rise through the UFC welterweight ranks, and his tussle with Manson came 10 days before Mike makes his return to the Octagon this weekend in Vancouver where he faces off with Kevin Holland in the penultimate bout on Saturday’s Fight Night event at Rogers Arena. However, professional synergy between the siblings is nothing new.
“For our whole careers, things have always seemed to happen in pairs with us,” explained Malott, who is a little more than four years older than his hockey-playing brother. “He got the call to play for Cornell in university the same week I found out I was fighting in Bellator the first time. The week I fought on Contender Series, he made his preseason NHL debut. I won my Contender Series fight in 39 seconds and his number in the NHL is 39.”
And since you’re wondering, no, it wasn’t selected in honor of his brother.
“He already had it,” said the Dana White’s Contender Series grad, who earned back-to-back victories heading into this weekend’s pivotal clash with Holland. “I didn’t even put it together — my Uncle Andrew texted me and said, ‘How cool is that? You won in 39 seconds and he’s No. 39!’ I was like, ‘Dammit!’ I wish I had realized that in the moment, but I was so caught up in winning the fight that I didn’t put those two together, but it’s such a cool coincidence.
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“That’s the kind of stuff where if it were in a TV show or a movie, you’d be like, ‘You lost me; that’s corny!’”
He’s right, but the fact that it just kind of happened for the brothers from Waterdown, Ontario, that are simultaneously chasing their athletic dreams at the highest level makes it part of an amazing story.
As of the last census, Waterdown has a population of 24,400 people, roughly 5,000 people shy of the capacity of Rogers Arena, where Mike will fight on Saturday and Jeff will visit a couple of times throughout the NHL season. For the brothers who were born and raised just outside of Hamilton to have worked to make their childhood dreams into their realities is a testament to their drive, focus, and commitment to their respective crafts.
It's also something that the 33-year-old welterweight hopeful refuses to take for granted.
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“I’m living the dream!” said Malott, who earned his spot on the UFC roster a little over four years ago. “Yesterday I went for a drive through my hometown, which I like to do leading up towards fights; drive by my two childhood homes in Waterdown, Ontario, go by my old elementary school and walk down memory lane because it makes me grateful.
“Of course there are things that we wanna achieve, and I have high expectations for myself, but at the same time, I like driving down those streets, seeing the old houses, and thinking, ‘You were just a little kid who wanted to be a professional athlete, and when you were 12 or 13, this became your dream, and you’re doing it now.’ It’s so cool. It brings me back and grounds me to make me realize ‘You’re so fortunate. Just go out there and be yourself and you’re gonna do great.’”
Mike Malott Gets KO In His UFC Debut | UFC 273: Volkanovski vs The Korean Zombie
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Mike Malott Gets KO In His UFC Debut | UFC 273: Volkanovski vs The Korean Zombie
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Through his first six appearances inside the Octagon, things have gone very well for Malott. He earned five victories, four stoppages, and a pair of Performance of the Night bonuses to date. But as is sometimes the case with fighters on the come-up, it’s his one miscue that stands out the most for fans and observers.
After tearing through Mickey Gall, Yohan Lainesse, and Adam Fugitt to bring himself to the cusp of cracking the Top 15, Malott garnered a main card assignment opposite divisional stalwart Neil Magny at UFC 297 in Toronto. Fourty-five minutes from where he grew up, he fought in an arena so familiar to him that he — like most Ontario natives — still calls by its old name. Up 2-0 on all three scorecards and one round from earning a fourth consecutive victory and potentially a spot in the rankings, Malott faltered, and Magny scored a signature come-from-behind win over an aspiring fighter that wasn’t quite ready to take that next step.
Two wins and 19 months later, Malott is right back where he started 2024, but this time, he’s armed with the lessons learned from his lone setback since touching down in the UFC.
“Every time I go out there and trust my preparation, trust my training, it speaks for itself,” offered the thoughtful Canadian. “I’ve been having pretty solid performances, and I’m pretty happy with the fights I’ve had. There’s the one I wish I would have won, but I’m right back in that same scenario now, and I feel all the more prepared for it while probably going against an even better guy, an even tougher guy, and prepared to put on an even better performance.
“We’ve learned so much as a team from that fight, my coaches and I, and we’re taking things from that fight and continuing to learn every camp,” reflecting on the loss to Magny. “There are things this camp that I hadn’t done in the past, and it’s ‘Oh, that’s something I should have done differently.’
“I just feel so much more prepared and mature than I was at that time. I feel so much more ready. I was ready then — we were 95-percent of the way there with that fight, but I feel like it gave me an extra 22 months to grow and build up more momentum to be back in this similar situation.
“I feel far more ready to make this run.”
In order to truly begin to embark on that run into and up the rankings, Malott first has to get through Holland, the ever-active, hyper-dangerous tweener who has earned highlight reel finishes at both middleweight and welterweight.
The 32-year-old is making his fifth start of the year. Holland kicked off his 2025 campaign in the 185-pound ranks against one half of Saturday’s main event, Reinier de Ridder, before returning to welterweight and posting consecutive victories over Gunnar Nelson and Vicente Luque. Last time out, “Trailblazer” landed on the wrong side of the scorecards in a back-and-forth clash with Daniel Rodriguez.
As difficult as Holland is to deal with from a skills and size perspective, the Texas-based talent adds to the mix by famously talking at and to his opponents throughout the fight, which was a new wrinkle Malott had to work into his preparations as he readied for their meeting this weekend.
“I’ve had guys talking s*** to me all camp; my coaches and mental coach screaming at me from the sidelines, saying the things they think could possibly be the most hurtful, most rattling, trying to get under my skin the whole time,” he admitted. “I was saying some of it back to my wife, telling her some of the things, and now that I’m saying it back, it’s like, ‘That was one of my best friends that was yelling that s*** at me, and I gave him a hug after, told him I appreciate it.’
“Now I’m thinking he’s an a******!” Malott added with a laugh. “Like, ‘Dude, you really dug some s*** up! You’ve been thinking about this for a while.’”
While a victory over Holland on Saturday would likely catapult the Canadian into the rankings, that’s not something the process-driven fighter is thinking about right now. Instead, he’s keeping his sights set on the challenge in front of him and making sure he’s as prepared as possible for when the two of them are standing across the Octagon from one another.
“That’s huge, and I’ll focus on that after the win,” he said. “The result is on the other side of what I’ve gotta do first, so honestly, I’m not super-focused on the result right now. I’m focused on the preparation.
“But when we get in there, that’s all I’m focused on (is getting that win). For me, it’s like turning it off and turning it on. Right now, I’m focused on ‘What can I do to prepare myself to have the best performance?’ but when we get in there, it’s not ‘Hey man, are you having fun?’ There is only one thing that matters and that’s winning, but right now, we’re focused on the task at hand rather than what a win means.”
With that established, the multi-faceted Canadian fighter believes he has all the tools needed to go out, beat Holland, and punch his ticket to the Top 15 no matter how things shake out this weekend.
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“I’m one of the most dangerous guys in the UFC,” Malott said. “I’m well-rounded. I can knock guys out. I proved that in my last fight. I’ve got that one-punch knockout power to sit dangerous dudes down, and I’ve also gone out and submitted the two guys I’ve submitted in the UFC.
“I’ve submitted guys that have never been submitted, I’m knocking out guys that are strikers, and I have one decision now two fights ago, so I’m confident that no matter where this fight goes, I can get the finish or pick this guy apart and outclass him.”
UFC Fight Night: De Ridder vs Allen took place live from Rogers Arena in Vancouver, Canada on October 18, 2025. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!
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