5 Things You Might Not Know About Mike Malott

Mike Malott has put himself in position to make some real noise in the Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight division.

The 31-year-old Canadian will look to accelerate his push at 170 pounds when he tests his mettle against Adam Fugitt in a featured UFC 289 attraction on Saturday at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia. Malott enters the Octagon on the heels of five straight victories, all of them finishes. He last appeared at UFC Fight Night 220, where he dismissed Yohan Lainesse with an arm-triangle choke in the first round of their Feb. 25 pairing.

As the surging Malott approaches his high-stakes battle with Fugitt, here are five things you might not know about him:

1. He followed traditional routes.

Malott started his formal mixed martial arts training at House of Champions in Stoney Creek, Ontario, where he developed under the tutelage of decorated muay thai practitioner Alin Halmagean. He made his professional MMA debut at the age of 19 when he needed all of 32 seconds to submit James Saunders with an armbar at an Extreme Cage Combat show on April 16, 2011. The event also featured early iterations of future UFC competitors Gavin Tucker and Chris Kelades.

2. Championship gold did not result in his growing complacent.

“Proper” laid claim to the Xcessive Force Fighting Championship lightweight title with a 36-second knockout of Craig Shintani in the XFFC 13 main event in February 2017. He then took an extended sabbatical from MMA competition—he went 1,414 days between fights—to round out his skills, with a particular focus on his grappling. Since his return as a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, Malott has gone 4-0 with three submissions.

3. Efficiency has been a hallmark.

The Burlington, Ontario, native punched his ticket to the UFC on Dana White’s Contender Series, as he dispatched Shimon Smotritsky with a guillotine choke 39 seconds into their Week 6 pairing on Oct. 5, 2021. It was the fourth sub-minute finish of Malott’s career and swung open the Octagon doors for him.

4. Academics were a focus.

Malott holds a bachelor’s degree in commerce from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Founded in 1818, the school has produced a number of notable alumni, including “Anne of Green Gables” author Lucy Maud Montgomery and Kathryn Sullivan—the first American woman to walk in space.

5. Toughness runs in his blood.

Malott’s younger brother is a professional hockey prospect with the Manitoba Moose, an AHL affiliate of the Winnipeg Jets. Jeff Malott, 26, has scored 60 goals in parts of three seasons with the Moose. He made his NHL debut in 2021-22, playing in one game for the Jets.