Hailing out of Ontario, Canada, Mike Malott (9-1-1) is on his way to becoming the next big thing in the UFC. The welterweight has recently made waves in the promotion not just through his fighting style but also through his finishes.
‘Proper‘ was born on November 1, 1991. And like every other elite athlete, Malott has previously competed under multiple banners, most notably Bellator, WSOF, and Cage Fury FC. From a very young age, Mike knew he wanted to compete in sports. Starting out as a fan, the Canadian dabbled in a plethora of martial arts before eventually sticking with MMA.
Speaking with the UFC in February of this year, Mike said, “This is something I’ve been working towards for 20 years. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do. But it started with me being a huge fan of the sport. As much as I’m an athlete and I compete in this sport, I’m a huge fan of what we do, and it still blows my mind that I get to do this.”
Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Mike began training in Taekwondo in 2006. Eventually, he moved on to kickboxing and wrestling and eventually to MMA. The Canadian moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia to attend Dalhousie University. During his time there, Malott began training in Muay Thai and Boxing at Titan’s Fitness Academy.
Getting involved in combat sports at an early age has made Mike a pretty well-rounded fighter for someone his age. Aside from his amateur career, Malott has also competed in professional bouts in MMA, BJJ, Kickboxing, Muay Thai, and Karate.
For fans unaware, Malott took a hiatus from competing in MMA at the end of 2017. He spent the time focusing on his grappling skills competing in various BJJ tournaments. Malott also began coaching striking at the famed Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, California.
During his time there, he has famously cornered UFC fighters like Urijah Faber and former bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt. After his 3-year hiatus, Malott returned to MMA in December 2020 and has never looked back since.
What do we know about Mike Mallot’s family?
Outside of his fighting career, Mike Malott seems to be a perfect family man. Oftentimes, MMA fighters don’t like sharing their personal lives on social media. However, ‘Proper’ seems not too worried about the prying eyes of the media.
Mike was born to Murray and Anne Malott. He has three siblings – two sisters and a younger brother. When he is not training, Malott often posts photos of his family outings in the wild or their time at a hockey game. His sisters are named Kathryn and Lauren.
It is noteworthy that Mike isn’t the only professional athlete in his family. His younger brother, Jeff, is a hockey player. Jeff has parlayed a solid career at Cornell into a contract with Manitoba Moose, the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets. Two weeks before Mike made his UFC debut, Jeff made his 1st appearance for the Jets in a 6-4 win over the Chicago Blackhawks. Jeff has scored 60 goals in parts of three seasons with the Moose.
In terms of his dating life, Mike seems to be happily in love. Not only that but the UFC welterweight may perhaps be married as well. Going by his Instagram posts, Mike appears to be romantically involved with someone named Jess, a name referred to by his close friends in the comments. Though not much information is available about her, Mike does like to refer to her as “The Mrs.” in his posts.
Either Jess doesn’t like to keep social media, or she prefers not to be tagged under Mike’s posts. There is no information on how long they have been dating each other. On 4th March, Mike took to Instagram to post a picture of the lovely couple with Jess showing off a ring.
The caption only read a ring emoji. Various MMA personalities congratulated the couple in the comments. It is unclear if the two are married or just engaged for now.
The early MMA career of Mike Malott
As per Tapology, Mike made his professional debut in MMA in 2011 with a first-round submission victory over James Saunders. The fight happened at Extreme Cage Combat. Six weeks later, Malott would fight again, this time forfeiting his purse to fly out his opponent Michael Imperato from Toronto to Trenton. Mike pulled off an upset by submitting Michael with an armbar.
Mike secured his first 4 wins via stoppages at various regional promotions throughout Eastern Canada. On October 11, 2014, Mike fought under a major promotion – WSOF (World Series of Fighting). He faced fellow Canadian Hakeem Dawodu at WSOF 14. Malott suffered his first loss that night at 4:13 in Round 1 via TKO.
Followed by this, The Ontario native fought Thomas Diagne at Bellator 142. The bout resulted in a majority draw. Mike signed his next fight in 2017 against Craig Shintani for the vacant XFFV lightweight championship. Malott won the context via knockout in 36 seconds of the opening round.
Mike entered a grappling contest at F2W (Fight 2 Win) 97 against Vince Barbosa. However, he lost the bout via split decision. The Canadian took on Solomon Renfro in an MMA bout at CFFC 91. Mike won the fight via a rear naked choke.
Following his win over Renfro, Mike earned a spot on Season 5 of Dana White’s Contender Series. On October 5, Mike fought against Shimon Smotritsky and won via guillotine choke at 0:39 in round 1. This victory earned him a UFC contract.
Malott made his UFC debut against a renowned opponent Mickey Gall in April 2022. The Canadian secured a victory over Gall via TKO in the opening round. Following this, Mike would enter yet another grappling match. He’d face and defeat Trevin Giles via unanimous decision at Fury Pro Grappling 6.
As of now, Mike’s most recent victory came against a fellow Canadian. Mike defeated Yohan Lainesse via an arm triangle in February of this year and earned a Performance of the Night bonus in the process.