After the biggest win of his career, Mike Malott knows exactly when and where he wants to fight next.
Whoever happens to be staring back at him doesn’t matter to him – though a name that puts “Proper” Mike into a proper UFC welterweight title conversation no doubt would be preferred. But after his stunning main event knockout of Joaquin Buckley (21-9 MMA, 11-7 UFC) on Saturday in the UFC Edmonton main event, Malott (15-2-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC) wants another one in Canada – and even closer to home.
Malott turned out the lights on Buckley with a highlight-reel second-round KO at Rogers Place. He threw a kick that turned into a knee to the chin. It sent Buckley’s mouthpiece flying across the cage, put him face down on the canvas, and earned Malott an extra
$100,000 bonus check.
“I saw the mouthguard fly out. He fell face-first. I was like, ‘OK, I'm pretty sure this is a wrap. Throw one more,’” Malott said at his post-fight news conference. That one more was a punch that likely was unnecessary, but not egregiously so. It was Buckley’s third straight loss after a six-fight streak had him in title contention not that long ago.
Malott said the game plan included wrestling, but wound up being unnecessary.
“Obviously, I never overly game-plan,” Malott said. “I never script things too much because that can happen. If you pigeonhole yourself into, ‘I have to wrestle this guy’ and give him too much respect on the feet, then maybe you're right because you build him up too much on the feet. I'm a world-class striker. He's made a career out of being a striker in the UFC. That's one of the things that I'm good at, and I was better than him at it. I still think I could have won the fight on the ground had I decided to take it to the ground, but I felt like I just was going to go out there and feel it, and I'd find my openings. That's exactly what happened.”
Not long before Malott walked to the cage Saturday, the promotion announced UFC 336 for Jan. 30 in Toronto. Malott’s home province is Ontario, and he has no doubt in his mind that’s where his next assignment will be.
One name that was floated post-fight was former welterweight champion Jack Della Maddalena (18-4 MMA, 8-2 UFC). Malott is keen to that idea, even though JDM has lost back-to-back fights to Islam Makhachev, in which he dropped the title to the current champ, and Carlos Prates – who likely will challenge Makhachev next.
A fight against Della Maddalena, would be yet another one for Malott against an opponent on a losing skid, though, like Buckley was. But if he’s on the card in Toronto, and the title is on the line in the main event, Malott and his five-fight winning streak would be in a perfect spot to be a backup.
That said, he doesn’t seem to care.
“Any of these guys (at welterweight) get me excited,” Malott said. “I’ve got my phone right here, so I'm waiting for the call. Hopefully it's not for a couple of weeks. I want to just chill for a little bit. But I'm ready to defend Canada in the octagon, so when they come back in January, expect me to be there.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Mike Malott wants UFC 336 spot in Toronto after Edmonton KO
