First Things First

The UFC’s first Pay-Per-View of the year is this weekend and the main card will be showcasing their newest submission finisher, “Proper” Mike Malott. Today we’re taking a closer look at his game and how he has managed to achieve a 100% finish record. Let’s get into it.

The UFC’s Newest Finisher

The UFC thrives on finishes. Finishes are dramatic, exciting, and they make it easy to sell new fighters and their future fights. There is nothing more interesting in combat sports than an athlete systematically answering all of the problems their opponent presents en route to forcing them to stop.

Finishes in the UFC are hard to come by. You’re literally trying to make some of the toughest humans in the world quit.

When we see an athlete that has finished every one of their fights, they demand a closer look. Today we’re taking that closer look at the newest fighter demanding our attention. We’re looking at the Canadian prospect Mike Malott.

Mike Malott

Malott has been in the UFC for two and a half years. In that time he’s finished four fighters, three of them with chokes. He has yet to face a major step-up in competition, but he’s showed poise, control, and the craft to make his fights look straight up easy.

Malott sports a 100% finish rate across his entire professional career. His only loss came nine years ago at 145 pounds against another future UFC talent, Hakeem Dawodu. Whenever you see a remarkable record like that you take a step back and ask, what makes this person special?

Do they have rare techniques, a large frame, or some type of exceptional athleticism? For Malott, it appears to be something else less tangible.

Malott has a pretty meat and potatoes game. He circles a lot, pokes and shifts into range from the outside, and passes low and tight when he gets to the floor. You can find countless fighters that use these techniques. What separates Malott is how he combines them to capitalize on the space his opponents give him to set up finishes on the feet and the floor.

Malott is a master of manipulating distance in every phase of the fight to find finishes.

Fights & Finishes

On the feet, Malott pokes from the outside to annoy his opponents. When they rush in, he meets them for better clinch positioning to take them down. If Malott sees openings he will shift with punches to cover additional distance and hit unguarded openings.

When Malott is on the floor he pressures his opponents with punches and smothering passing so they push back, often exposing their neck in the process. Malott does not waste movement. He works in tight to get to his spots, and slowly grinds through his opponents.

Simple, straightforward, and essentially flawless thus far. Let’s take a look at what this looks like.

Shimon Smotritsky

Malott got into the UFC by getting a submission finish over Shimon Smotritsky on Dana White’s Content Series. The whole fight was over in less than a minute.

Mickey Gall

Malott’s debut was against UFC journeyman Mickey Gall. Gall presented some of the only opposition Malott has faced, and he answered the challenge with little issue.

Malott showed tight boxing to score the finish soon after.

Yohan Lainesse

Malott’s next fight was a grappling dissection. After scoring a simple takedown Malott went straight through his opponent’s guard all the way to finish.

Adam Fugitt

In Malott’s last fight he showed a perfect integration of striking and grappling to seal his stellar performance.

As the fight wore on, Malott capitalized on more of Fugitt’s striking.

In the second round, Malott got offensive to get a finish.

The Future Or The Next GSP?

Like fellow Canadian welterweight Rory MacDonald before him, Mike Malott is being labeled as the next Georges St-Pierre. I guess on the surface it makes sense. He’s another Canadian welterweight that is blowing through competition. That’s about as far as the comparisons go though.

Before he was known as GSP he was a prospect called Rush. He earned that nickname as a well rounded super athlete that blew through opposition.

As GSP’s game evolved, he turned into a well rounded wrestling karate-boxer. that used long strikes to set up intercepting takedowns. GSP would stay down low in a stance that allowed him to spring forward and catch opponents off guard. This combination of timing, long striking, and a lower stance made him exceptionally difficult to takedown.

Malott, on the other hand, is primarily a counter fighter. He will stand upright, punch heavy, and take you down from the clinch. Malott puts out just enough offense to make you overextend so he can secure a finish.

If there is a critique you can make against Malott’s game it’s that the shifting, heavy punching, and straight up stance gives opponents easy entries on his hips. Malott has been able to counter those takedown entries with chokes and stand-ups, but GSP was never there for those opportunities in the first place.

This weekend we’ll get an opportunity to see if Malott’s game can work against a proven veteran. The Canadian prospect has been matched against Welterweight Neil Magny.

Magny is coming up on 11 years and 32 fights in the UFC. He‘s proven to have elite cardio, but a notable grappling deficiency. The majority of his losses have come from submission, and, at 36 years old, that sounds like a terrible liability in a fight with Malott.

We’ll see if Malott can exploit this hole and continue to rise through the welterweight ranks this Saturday at UFC 299.

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