Canadian fighter Mike Malott steps into the Octagon for the very first time this Saturday evening at UFC 273.
Malott (7-1-1) faces off against Mickey Gall (7-4) in a much-anticipated welterweight matchup on the preliminary undercard.
For Malott, who is now 30, deciding to step inside the Octagon was far from a foregone conclusion. He had previously taken a position coaching at Team Alpha Male and seemed perfectly satisfied remaining behind the scenes to help shape the next generation of Team Alpha Male fighters. Yet when the pandemic disrupted everything, Malott found himself craving the competitive fire once more.
"During the pandemic, with everything slowing down, there weren't many other distractions. I had plenty of time to think about what I truly wanted out of life," Malott told MMA Empire in conversation.
"I made several adjustments, including spending more time back home in Canada, and grew increasingly determined to pursue MMA seriously rather than let my time slip away. Fighting in the UFC ended up sitting near the top of my priorities."
Malott secured his UFC contract via Dana White's Contender Series (DWCS), where he put Shimon Smotritsky away with a submission victory in the opening round.
Even though his DWCS outing marked only his second fight since 2017, Malott felt completely at ease inside the cage.
"It was genuinely exciting, but I'd already been around quite a bit through coaching and cornering various fighters in the UFC. Even though it was just my second fight in roughly four and a half to almost five years at that point, I actually felt more at ease competing then than I had right before taking the break," Malott explained.
"I used the time to grow as a person and hone different elements of MMA, getting a front-row seat to what happens behind the curtain at fight events. I learned what fight week looks like, studied what preparation strategies succeed and which ones fall flat, and became genuinely comfortable with the entire process. That's still relatively new territory for me. Martial arts has been central to my existence since 2005, yet there's a lot about what happens behind the scenes that you simply don't grasp until you experience it firsthand, and I feel completely at home with all of that now."
