Malott: Headlining UFC event in Canada 'so special to me'

WINNIPEG, MANITOBA - Georges St-Pierre, Rory MacDonald, and now Mike Malott.

Malott will join an exclusive club Saturday night when he becomes the third Canadian-born fighter to headline a UFC event in Canada. He's scheduled to face Gilbert Burns in the welterweight main event of UFC Fight Night at Canada Life Centre.

For Malott, it's a dream come true.

"This is so special to me," Malott said at Wednesday's media day. "This is something I've been dreaming about since I was probably 12 or 13 years old. This has been one of the big goals, man. It feels really great."

The 34-year-old Burlington, Ontario, native has fought on two pay-per-view main cards already, but being on the poster for the Winnipeg event might be even cooler.

"They're both excellent," Malott said. "Super grateful for both. I think getting your name on the title of the UFC Fight Night is pretty damn cool."

Malott enters the biggest fight of his career against Burns riding a three-fight winning streak and is looking to break into the welterweight rankings with a victory. He's coming off a unanimous decision win over Kevin Holland at UFC Vancouver last October. Malott is 6-1 in the promotion with four finishes, his lone loss coming against Neil Magny at UFC 297 in January 2024 in Toronto.

Burns, a 39-year-old former title challenger, has hit a rough patch in recent years, dropping four straight fights to the likes of Belal Muhammad and Jack Della Maddalena.

However, Malott said he's "expecting the best version" of Burns "that we've seen so far."

"You gotta prepare for everything," Malott said. "You gotta prepare for a guy who's gonna come and fight for his life. But that's what we've done for the last 8-10 weeks.

"Preparation feels so good going into it. I'm very confident going into this fight."

It's his most notable opponent since Magny, who rallied to score a third-round TKO finish over Malott a little over two years ago. Since then, Malott has rattled off wins over Trevin Giles, Charles Radtke, and Holland, re-establishing himself as one of the top up-and-comers at 170 pounds.

Malott believes he's changed "in a lot of ways" since Magny took away his undefeated record in the UFC.

"The main ones are in growth and experience," Malott said. "I was still quite new to the UFC then, and I only had so much Octagon time. I had like 14 minutes of Octagon in four fights, including Contender Series. Since then, I've had three fights go into the third round, and two of them go the distance, and a second-round stoppage.

"I've also spent years understanding what it means to represent the country, and understanding ... what I need in order to be the best version of myself."