Mike Malott almost had a career high spoiled by some unfortunate fouls in the UFC Vancouver co-main event.
The end result of Saturday’s welterweight matchup between Malott and Kevin Holland was a convincing decision win for Malott, muddled only by a pair of low blows in the opening round that threatened to prematurely end the fight. Fortunately for Malott, despite Holland reacting to one of the low shots by dropping to the mat in pain, Holland was able to continue fighting and the bout went the distance.
It’s unclear whether Malott would have been disqualified or if the bout would have been ruled a no-contest or if some other unexpected outcome could have occurred if Holland decided he could no longer fight. All Malott could do was wait on the other end of the cage while Holland recovered and he admits the situation looked bleak for a moment.
“The only thing that had me concerned was when they brought the doctor in and the doctor turned to the ref and the doctor’s like, ‘[Holland’s] not giving me definitive answer,’” Malott said at the evening’s post-fight press conference. “I was like, ‘No, come on. Don’t. Because of that? No way, man.’ I didn’t think that was a bad shot. OK, brushed the cup, I’m sure it hurt, it doesn’t feel great, but come on, man, no way. Please don’t let this be the reason this ends. We’re going to have to run this back because of a groin shot? Get out of here.
“Luckily, he’s a gamer. He’s tough. He’s down to keep going, so good on him for continuing.”
Holland’s toughness was not rewarded as he went on to lose his third fight in 2025. He was making his fifth octagon appearance this year and his ninth in 19 months, an impressive stretch of activity. It should come as no surprise Holland was willing to shake off the low blow to keep the action moving.
Asked where his head was at during the lengthy break, Malott was doing his best to stay on task while replaying the alleged fouls in his head.
“I was just focused on the fight,” Malott said. “OK, keep moving around a little bit, don’t get too cold, don’t get too hyped and frustrated at stuff that you can’t control. We both threw kicks at the same time and one of mine went low first and then that second one, my knee hit him in the hip. My shin I think brushed his cup. I’ve got to watch it back, maybe I’m crazy, but I swear my knee hit him in the hip like right above the beltline there. He’s just so tall, it’s hard, dude’s all limbs. His hips are so high it’s hard to get that knee up, so I’m sure my shin did hit him in the groin, and I bet it hurt, I don’t think he was being dramatic. I’m sure it was bugging him.
“A bit of an odd one, but alright, that happened, you can’t control it, there’s 10 straight minutes, let’s just get back to it and reset it and refocus and my coaches did a good job of just being like, ‘Look, don’t worry about that. You’re probably down one. Let’s adjust. Let’s do this, do this, get out there and go win this fight, you only have 10 minutes to do it,’ and it felt good out there.”
Malott is now 6-1 in the UFC, with three straight wins since a disappointing collapse against Neil Magny at UFC 297 in Toronto. The 33-year-old Canadian built considerable buzz by finishing his first three UFC opponents and while he’d love to have added Holland to his highlight reel, he wasn’t going to force the issue, even if Holland was severely compromised by the low blows.
“He’s like a chaotic guy,” Malott said. “Is he doing that because he wants me to rush in and do something stupid and he’s going to rip a right hand or something like that and try and knock me out? Is he playing possum? Can he just not continue? I don’t know. Maybe I should have just gotten on him a little bit more but whatever, hindsight’s 20/20.”
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