Mike Malott on fight-ending knee at UFC Edmonton: ‘I knew it was a wrap’
UFC Edmonton wasn’t the most successful event ever as far as Canadians winning was concerned, but main-eventer Mike Malott did turn in an impressive performance by knocking out Joaquin Buckley with a massive knee in the second round (watch the highlights here).
Malott has been heralded as the potential next big thing in Canadian MMA for a long time now, and he definitely looked the part on Saturday night as he pushed through powerful attacks from Buckley to unleash his own dangerous striking. In the end, he was the one who cracked Buckley, putting his opponent out cold on the canvas.
Malott discussed the win with media at the UFC Edmonton post-fight press conference.
“I mean, I saw the mouth guard fly out,” he said. “He fell kinda face first. I was like, okay, I’m pretty sure this is a wrap. Throw one more, you know? Can’t let a guy back in by walking off or anything like that, right? So, yeah. I had to follow up with one more and put him out. But yeah, I knew it was pretty much a wrap.”
Buckley did his best to stir the pot all week, but Malott said none of that affected him in the slightest.
“I don’t care what the guys do, man,” he said. “I’ve had guys talk trash. I’ve had guys wanna be my buddy. I’ve had guys be indifferent. The way they act before the fight doesn’t really matter. You can try and over-analyze, like, ‘Oh, nice. I got the better of him in the stare down,’ or, ‘I did this,’ or, ‘I did that,’ or whatever. We’re gonna step in an octagon, and I don’t care what you said before. I’m gonna be the same guy that I am regardless.”
“Like, I’m gonna be my style. I’m intelligent. I’m violent. I’m patient. I’m going to pick you apart. I’m going to dissect you, and I’m hopefully gonna highlight reel you.”
The UFC announced its return to Toronto on January 30th for UFC 336, and there’s already a lot of talk about Malott getting a top welterweight contender to fight there. Jack Della Maddalena has come up, as well as Belal Muhammad and Michael Morales.
“Any of these guys could get me excited,” Malott said, refusing to call out a single name. “You know, I got my phone right here, so I’m waiting for the call. Hopefully, it’s not for a couple of weeks. I wanna just chill for a little bit. But yeah, man. I’m ready to defend Canada in the Octagon. So when they come back in January, expect me to be there.”
This is Malott’s fifth win in a row, and the Canadian fighter has just one loss in the UFC: a main card collapse against Neil Magny at UFC 297 that caused many to jump off his bandwagon and declare him a non-factor in the division.
“When you have a loss, people point to that as like, oh, that’s who that guy is,” Malott said of the lingering opinions against him. “I’m like, that’s almost three years ago, man. I’ve spent so much time sealing up the things that led to that loss.”
“That was like the most pressure cooker, put any errors or lacking that I have as a mixed martial artist under a microscope and expose it in front of the world, unfortunately. But I’ve grown as a man, that knocked me down but couldn’t keep me down. And I’m better now than I was then, and I’m just gonna continue to grow.”
The tests won’t get any easier for Malott, who will get a chance erase that previous Toronto collapse from people’s minds with a better performance in the city. It’ll be another pressure cooker, for sure, especially if he gets a shot at a top five welterweight.