Canadian welterweight (Proper) Mike Malott can’t wait to get back in the UFC cage Saturday in Edmonton.
“I’ve been looking forward to it big time. There’s been a lot of growth since the last one,” said Malott.
And likely some pain and regret.
Malott, riding a seven-fight unbeaten streak (6-0-1) including wins in his three previous UFC bouts, looked to take the next step at UFC 297 in Toronto in January when he faced veteran American Neil (The Haitian Sensation) Magny, ranked 13th among 170-pound contenders at the time.
The 32-year-old from Burlington, Ont., had a 41-11 edge in significant strikes in the first two rounds and it looked like more of the same early in the third when he took Magny down twice. But Magny (29-12-0) worked his way back to his feet and dumped Malott with just under two minutes remaining.
Then the 37-year-old Magny turned up the heat, raining blows from above. Magny worked his way into mount, keeping the position as Malott turned onto his stomach, and landed 35-plus blows before referee Kevin MacDonald stepped in with 15 seconds remaining in the fight.
Magny landed 46 significant strikes to Malott’s four in the final round, according to UFC Stats.
“Listen, Neil Magny is the all-time greatest spoiler,” UFC president Dana White said after the fight. “Don’t ever think you’re just going to go in and run over Neil Magny. And tonight he proved it again. He got destroyed for 2 1/2 rounds and then turned it around, came back and pulled out the win.”
On Saturday, Malott (10-2-1) looks to bounce back against American Trevin (The Problem) Giles (16-6-0) on a UFC Fight Night card.
The main event at Rogers Place pits former flyweight champion Brandon (The Assassin Baby) Moreno, ranked second among 125-pound contenders, against No. 3 (The Prince) Amir Albazi.
The co-main event sees a women’s flyweight matchup of No. 3 Erin (Cold Blooded) Blanchfield and No. 5 Rose (Thug) Namajunas, a former two-time strawweight titleholder. Previously announced as the main event, it remains a five-round bout.
Others Canadians on the card are middleweight Marc-Andre (Power Bar) Barriault, bantamweights Aiemann Zahabi, Charles (Air) Jourdain and Chad (The Monster) Anheliger, and flyweights Jasmine Jasudavicius and Jamey-Lyn Horth.
The card also features Ukraine-born bantamweight Serhiy Sidey, who fights out of Burlington.
Malott took a couple of weeks off after the Magny loss “to heal up and assess, reassess what I thought I need to improve on with what my coaches saw from the fight and (my) training partners saw from the fight.”
“(To) just use it as a learning opportunity,” he added. “Obviously, at first, it’s feels really close to you and feels like almost a reflection of who you are. But the farther you get from it as far as time passing, the less connected I feel to the outcome.”
Instead Malott focused on what needed to be fixed.
He acknowledges he had not faced such adversity in his first few UFC fights. Asked what went wrong in the third round against Magny, Malott said simply: “I made some mistakes.”
Giles is 2-2-0 in the UFC since quitting his job as a Houston police officer in February 2022 to focus on fighting. He went 5-4-0 in the promotion while juggling his job in law enforcement, including a July 2021 loss as a middleweight to South African Dricus Du Plessis, who won the UFC 185-pound title at UFC 297.
“I took a leap of faith, prayed on it and I’ve been blessed,” Giles said after winning a split decision over Louis (The Monster) Cosce in September 2022, his first outing as a full-time fighter.
The six-foot Giles moved down to welterweight after the Du Plessis loss
Malott sees Giles as a “solid opponent.” The two have competed before, in a grappling match.
“I’ve locked horns with him before, so to speak, already. And I won that match, just under two years ago,” said Malott. “I’ve made some serious improvements since that time. I’ve already got a win over him in another discipline. But MMA’s a different beast so I definitely can’t overlook the guy.
“He’s solid, well-rounded, he’s got some good power and he’s fought some really good guys. But I don’t see anywhere in this fight where I’m outmatched … He’s a dangerous opponent and a beatable opponent in my eyes.”
Giles is coming off back-to-back losses to Brazil’s Gabriel Bonfim and Carlos (The Nightmare) Prates.
Malott trained for Giles at home but spent some time in California with Team Alpha Male before a July fight with Gilbert Urbina was called off due to injury. Malott previously had a stint as the striking coach at the Sacramento gym.