Athletes
More Mature Mike Malott Eager To Impress In Montreal
Following An Important Year Of Growth, Canadian Finisher Pumped To Compete At Bell Centre On Saturday
Mike Malott isn’t the only fighter in his family, though getting into scraps isn’t the sole occupational pursuit of his younger brother Jeff.
“Did he ever, man! He scrapped hard!” Malott said with incredible pride and glee when asked about a late-season dust-up his younger sibling got into that made the rounds on social media. “Him and Brandon Carlo went at it, and those are two huge boys. He looked bigger than my brother, and my brother is huge; he’s way bigger than I am.”
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A winger for the Los Angeles Kings, the younger Malott dropped the gloves with the Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman just three minutes into the first period of their game at the end of March, with the duo earning rave reviews from the announcers on the call and a warm round of applause from both their teammates and the fans at Scotiabank Arena.
His older brother was thoroughly impressed, as well.
“That was a sick fight,” said the older Malott. “It wasn’t one of those ‘grab the jersey and push each other around for 30 seconds waiting for the refs to jump in’ — Jeff was trying to give that guy a new face; it was awesome.”
While the Kings were bounced from the Stanley Cup Playoffs on the first of the month, their exit means that Jeff will be in town this week to watch his big brother make the walk to the Octagon at Bell Centre in Montreal, where he’s set to face off with Charles Radtke in the final preliminary card bout at UFC 315 on Saturday night.
For the proud Canadian, getting the opportunity to compete in the historic Quebec city is another bucket list item that has been crossed off.
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“If there is any city in Canada that is the fight city, it’s probably Montreal,” began Malott, who’s last three fights have all come on Canadian soil. “Growing up, all the biggest regional fights for the longest time were out of Montreal, and they were having most of the UFCs in Montreal.
“It was illegal in Ontario for such a long time, so all the guys that were fighting around here, all shipped out to Montreal to fight for years,” continued the Waterdown, Ontario native. “It’s pretty sweet getting to fight in Montreal, and the Bell Centre is a legendary arena, so just another awesome one to add to the list.”
Malott had a “dream come true” moment that turned into a bit of a nightmare at the start of last year, when he faced off with long-time divisional staple Neil Magny in the middle of the UFC 297 main card at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
Up two rounds on all three scorecards heading into the final frame, things ended up going sideways for the 33-year-old welterweight, with Magny rallying to collect a finish in the waning moments of the fight. The loss not only ended a six-fight winning streak that included his victory on Dana White’s Contender Series and first three outings under the UFC banner, but also forced the aggressive finisher to switch things up the next time out.
“Everything was going well, but I made a couple bad decisions at the end of the fight, let a couple things slip away from me in a way that I really didn’t need to,” Malott said, reflecting on his loss to Magny and the lessons learned from his lone UFC loss to date. “It was something where I thought, ‘I need to put that in check moving forward’ and at times, humble myself a little bit.”
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Paired off with Trevin Giles on the main card of the UFC’s November trek to Edmonton, Malott took a more measured, patient approach, opting to make the most of the time available to him inside the Octagon and do what was needed in order to ensure he got himself back into the win column.
After registering impressive stoppage wins in each of his first three UFC appearances — and all 10 of his professional wins to that point — it was a serious departure from the norm for the DWCS graduate, but one he knows will serve him well in the long run.
“My ego wanted that big finish, that big pop; I wanted to be ‘The Man’ again,” admitted Malott, who scored a unanimous decision victory to get things moving in the right direction again. “I’ve had a couple fights where it felt like I was one of the biggest standouts on the card, and Edmonton, that definitely wasn’t the case. I felt like another guy who won on the card, but I knew it was the medicine I needed.
“I think that long term, had I had the option to press the button where it’s ‘you knock him out in the first minute’ or, especially after the Toronto fight, ‘you get 15 minutes of cage time, build up that experience and get comfortable in the Octagon,’ I would have to press the ‘win by decision’ button again, get that extra experience.
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“Had I been able to finish him in the last minute, that would have been perfect — the best of both worlds,” he added with a laugh. “Not the big, fun fight, big performance — it’s funny, when I was leaving, I was like, ‘F***! That’s it? That’s all I get to feel?’ It was nothing compared to what I normally get, but for long-term growth and improvement, it’s what I needed.”
While highlight reel finishes and roaring ovations had been the norm for Malott early in his UFC career, those victories came in relatively quick fashion, which can be a double-edged sword. As much as everyone wants to get in and get out as quickly as possible whenever they step into the Octagon, there is no substitute for experience, and you can only learn how to handle stressful, challenging situations by going through them in real time.
Until last year, Malott hadn’t faced much adversity in the UFC, and he hadn’t accrued many rounds either, as his Contender Series victory in October 2021 and his first three appearances produced 14 minutes and one second of cage time. He eclipsed that mark in January against Magny and did so again with Giles in November, which has him heading into Saturday’s showdown with Radtke feeling infinitely more prepared for whatever this weekend’s fight presents.
"I’m feeling like a lot more of an experienced fighter than I was the first few fights in the UFC,” admitted Malott, who pressed pause on his own fighting career to focus on coaching and earning his Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt before returning to active competition less than a year prior to punching his ticket to the UFC. “I was going into that fight in Toronto with four fights with the company, including Contender Series, and in total, I had less than one full fight in fight time; I had like 14 minutes of cage time.
“You add my last two fights to that, and we’re close to 45 minutes now, so triple the experience going into this one, and I feel a lot more mature going into this one.
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“I think last year set me up well for growth,” he added. “The first few years set me up well for opportunities, but I think as far as the growth in my game, last year was the most important year for that. I’m seeing the results of that in the room, and while the gym and the cage are different things, I think how things are going in the gym are a pretty good indication of how you’re gonna perform in the Octagon.”
The ironic thing about his making a point to focus on getting more time in the Octagon last year is that Saturday’s preliminary card finale with Radtke profiles as a matchup that is not likely to need its full allotment of time.
While Malott has earned 10 of his 11 career wins inside the distance, his 34-year-old adversary this weekend has posted seven finishes in 10 pro wins, including each of his last two UFC victories. Last time out, Radtke needed just 51 seconds to dispatch Matthew Semelsberger, and Malott knows that his return to action this weekend is likely going to come complete with some violent exchanges.
“Yeah, it’s definitely one of those names where you’re like, ‘This probably isn’t going to be a long, slow fight,’” he said when asked about Radtke and his eagerness to share the cage with the aggressive American. “There are probably going to be some explosive moments in this fight; good opportunities for me to get the finish, but there’s also things I can do to pick this man apart.
“Whatever happens — I’m not gonna force anything in this fight; I’m gonna be a more mature fighter, like I was in my last fight. I’m gonna do what I need to in order to get the win, and I see several paths to victory here.”
The signs of Malott’s maturing as a fighter aren’t exclusive to his efforts inside the Octagon though.
Ahead of his fight with Adam Fugitt in Vancouver, where he was the star of UFC 289 Fight Week, he spoke eagerly about how a finish would set him up for a greater opportunity, and potentially a chance to break into the Top 15. He went out, collected a second-round finish, and got the marquee opportunity he was angling for, getting paired off with Magny in Toronto, and things went pear-shaped.
This time around, there is no talk of what comes next, no forecasting what a win may bring.
All he’s thinking about is getting his hand raised and raising the Canadian flag aloft once more.
“The only thing I’m focused on right now is this fight in front of me; you can’t look past anybody,” he said when asked about his ideas for how the rest of 2025 could shake out. “I’m focused on going out there and having the best performance of my career so far; going out there and fighting for anywhere from 15 seconds to 15 minutes, and getting the win.
“I’m really excited to be back in front of the Canadian fans, and I’m looking forward to hoisting that Canadian flag over my head after another big win.”
UFC 315: Muhammad vs Della Maddalena took place live from Bell Centre in Montréal, Québec, Canada on May 10, 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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