Discover the relentless spirit of UFC welterweight Mike Malott in our latest episode, where he reveals his journey from a hopeful youth to a seasoned fighter, emphasizing perseverance, support, and the art of rising after a fall, in a conversation with host Aaron Pete.
Mike Malott, who initiated his martial arts training at the young age of 12, has risen through the ranks to establish himself as a prominent contender in the UFC welterweight division. Since embarking on his professional career in 2012, Malott has distinguished himself with a series of notable victories, showcasing a dynamic fighting style that has captivated fans and analysts alike.
Discover the relentless spirit of UFC welterweight Mike Malott in our latest episode, where he reveals his journey from a hopeful youth to a seasoned fighter, emphasizing perseverance, support, and the art of rising after a fall, in a conversation with host Aaron Pete.
Mike Malott, who initiated his martial arts training at the young age of 12, has risen through the ranks to establish himself as a prominent contender in the UFC welterweight division. Since embarking on his professional career in 2012, Malott has distinguished himself with a series of notable victories, showcasing a dynamic fighting style that has captivated fans and analysts alike.
Welcome back to another episode of the Bigger than Me podcast. Here is your host, aaron. This episode is motivational. I'm speaking with a UFC fighter that I had the privilege of watching perform at UFC 289 in Vancouver. I find him to be motivational and I think there's a lot we can take away from fighters' journeys. My guest today is proper Mike Malott. Mike, I'm one of your biggest fans. It's such an honor to sit down with you. Would you mind please telling a little bit about yourself for people who might not be acquainted with your work?
Mike Malott:Yeah, so I'm Mike Malott. I'm a UFC welterweight. I've been with the UFC for maybe my debut. Almost two years ago I got signed off Dana White's contender series so I had the main event on contender series with Dana White and won that one in 39 seconds by submission with a guillotine.
Mike Malott:Got into the UFC, made my debut at UFC 273, I believe I fought Mickey Gull and I ended up TK Owing him in the first round, knocking him out.
Mike Malott:And then my second fight I fought at an Apex fight I can't remember which UFC Apex show it was, to be honest, but I fought Johann Leinass, the only other Canadian I'm Canadian, so the only other Canadian on the roster at Welterweight.
Mike Malott:I fought him. We both had a couple of opponents fall through, I think, and it just ended up making the most sense like to keep us both on the card and so I fought him and I submitted him in the first round with an arm triangle. And then my third fight in the UFC I fought Adam Fugit in Vancouver at UFC 289. And I submitted him with a guillotine choke and then my last outing out. I fought Neil Magney and was winning that fight and had a bad, basically last minute of you know was winning 13 and a half minutes of the fight and had a bad, you know, last 45 seconds. Made a couple inexperienced choices and ended up losing that one to Neil Magney by TK. Owing the third, the end of the third, at UFC 297 in Toronto at the beginning of this year, first pay-per-view card of the year.
Aaron Pete:So yeah, beautiful summary. I'm going to ask you to first take us back to the beginning. When did MMA become a passion of yours?
Mike Malott:I became obsessed with MMA almost immediately after seeing it. I remember being probably 12 years old and seeing it on TV for the first time. I don't remember I remember basically the first two fights I ever saw. I don't remember which one was first, but I remember seeing Nate Corey versus Lodinson Cade and Vitor Belfort versus Marvin Eastman and Nate Corey TK Ode Lodinson Cade with like standing strikes and I think the fight still might have been on the feet when there was a stoppage and Vitor Belfort need Marvin Eastman in the face and gave him like a new eyebrow over the top. And I just remember watching that fight in particular and thinking like you can do this, tuna, like this is something you can do like legally, you're allowed to do this. It blew me away.
Mike Malott:I had always been interested in combat in some form or another. It was mostly through like just being a little kid and loving like cartoons and superheroes and stuff like that. But as it got older it got into like combat sports and martial arts and it was almost like love at first sight for me, with MMA and UFC in particular. I just couldn't get enough of it. And the internet was just kind of. You know, viewing things on the internet wasn't really a thing at the time, right? So you'd have to go to Blockbuster and buy DVDs or rent DVDs in order to watch that stuff, or you'd have to find the one time that it was on TV you know, be home at 9 pm on a Saturday or whatever Like you couldn't just go online and watch every fight you've ever wanted. So I really like valued getting some access to fights. So I remember being at like HMV and finding like a Pride video set. It was like a DVD set and it was like five different Pride DVDs. I was like, oh my God, that's amazing. Like absolutely loved Pride back in the day. And you know, buy whatever UFC DVD I could and just try and absorb everything I could.
Mike Malott:I had two textbooks in high school. I had one Ken Shamrock biography slash like move textbook and just studied everything I could through that. And then later on, through a friend that actually met, eddie Bravo, I got an Eddie Bravo 10th Planet textbook. They were like I don't actually know what this is, but I thought it was cool.
Mike Malott:I met him like, do you want? Like I know you like MMA and Jiu Jitsu, do you want this? I was like, yes, please, like give me that I want to steal as much as I can. So just remember, like trying to trying to learn as much as I could and ended up going to a local like karate traditional martial arts gym and they had some kickboxing there. I did some kickboxing training and a couple of fights out of that gym and then the guy who ran the kickboxing practices he wanted to do a little bit of MMA training as well but didn't have you know the experience. He had, like you know, a BJ Penn book and I had those two textbooks and we had a judo coach for a couple months and we just basically like took anything we could we could and tried to train it and drill it and just mostly rolled and trying to figure things out. But it was a really fun time.
Aaron Pete:What do you think stood out to you about it? Was it the resilience that a fighter could show? Was it the aggressiveness? What do you think pulled you in specifically about?
Mike Malott:Well, I was a tiny kid. For my age I was always like this lowest percentile as far as like weight and height. So whenever I you know, whenever I was in a grade growing up, I was always like the second or third smallest kid in my year. So I think eventually that led to some small man syndrome a little bit and feeling like I had to prove myself. I think MMA stood out to me as what I thought strength was and what I thought toughness was. So I thought, man, if I mastered that, I'd be strong and I'd be tough, I'd feel more confident or whatever. I think that was partially the initial allure of MMA. Then, just through going and wanting to get stronger and wanting to get tougher, I ended up just falling in love with the sport and pursue it for in some ways, that same reason, but different reasons now, just more through my actual passion, rather than wanting to be someone I am not.
Aaron Pete:There's a huge hockey culture in Canada. Was there any temptation? Was there anything pulling you off this path? Or was it always MMA?
Mike Malott:No, it was hockey first for sure. Pretty well every Canadian kid wants to play in the NHL. That was the dream. And play for the Toronto Maple Leafs that was the dream as a kid and became pretty apparent pretty quickly that I sucked at hockey. I never compete at any major level. I played basically the lowest level of travel competitive hockey. You can like single-A hockey. Basically it's like single-A, double-a, triple-a. I played single-A Again. I was too small and I was too much of a space cadet man. I just couldn't wrap my head around being part of a team and being one unit. I think I've always thrived a little bit better when it's all on me. I do definitely have a team now and teams in Canada and California and a bunch of friends and training partners throughout Canada and whatever. At the end of the day, it all comes down to me. When I win it's because I performed and when I fall short it's because I didn't. I feel like that's easier for me to wrap my head around than team sports in some ways.
Aaron Pete:I definitely sympathize with that. One of the reasons you're my favorite fighter is when we talk about the Walter Wight Division and what's going on is we look back at your pro debut in 2011 and a first-round submission over James Saunders. Then, six weeks later, you forfeit your own purse to fly on another opponent in to fight you and you gave up your own pay for that fight and you pulled off the upset. Would you mind taking us back to those early days?
Mike Malott:Yeah, man, those were some cool days. I didn't know what I was doing at all. I had my first basically actual MMA coaches running me through everything and they're like yeah, we're going to get you a fight, we're getting you a fight at a catchweight at 140. I was like I don't know if I can make 140. I was supposed to fight at 145. I was much smaller at the time, I was 19. It was my pro debut.
Mike Malott:Amateur MMA was illegal at the time. It might still be in Nova Scotia. If you wanted to have an MMA fight, you had to go pro. All right, my coach runs a promotion, let's just go pro. I'm like, guys, I don't know if I can make 140. And they're like oh, don't worry, We'll teach you how We'll help you make weight. I was like, oh, okay, cool, they gave me a couple diet, a little bit of dieting advice, but most of we'll help you make weight, We'll put you back in the sauna when you can't stand up on your own.
Mike Malott:It was horrible, man. I weighed in at like actually, the catch rate was 141 and we got a one pound allowance. I was like 142, carried onto the scale type thing. I had no idea what I was doing. I remember I was already feeling drawn out the night before weigh-ins and I was 157 the night before. I was like, okay, I have 16 pounds to go and I've never cut weight before. I'm already drawn out and I haven't eaten in a couple days. It was so bad. It was just like so old school, We'll just get in the sauna and the weight will come off. That was not the way to do it.
Mike Malott:So I ended up having that fight and I won that. That was actually in our gym, Pelukas Boxing Club at the time. It was an old movie theater that had been turned into a nonprofit boxing and MMA gym Super cool, that was awesome. I had one and then my weight ballooned back up and I just I think I ate cake for dinner like three nights and just like was so bloated and wanted to help a friend, Spar, who had a fight a couple of weeks later and I remember him warming up, touching me to the body and me being like, oh my God, my body is like so swollen. But yeah, then I had that other fight like five or six weeks later and that kid at the time was so I was one and oh, he was three and oh, and I knew who he was. He was like a hot prospect in Canada. He had a few teammates that were doing really well. One of them ended up going on well, going on to be he is Misha Serkanov, right.
Mike Malott:So I ended up having a bunch of fights in the UFC and being like a high level fighter, but they had a few really good grapplers from their team fight. You know, they had a few good fighters on their team and I knew who this guy was and who was wrestling coach. I had heard a lot of hype around him and that was another like change in weight. I was supposed to fight at 155 for that fight against some guy who was like it was just who they could find me. It was like two and seven or something. That guy pulled out and was like, okay, I guess I'm not fighting.
Mike Malott:And then the week before the fight, the promoter, who was like a friend and training partner, mine he's like hey, man, I found you a new fight. It's actually at 145. It's next weekend. I'm like, oh crap, like my weight ballooned up after doing that, that horrible weight cut. So this is going to be hard, as is. And he's like and I'm having to fly him in from Toronto and I can't afford to fly him in and pay you, so you're not getting paid for this one.
Mike Malott:I was like okay, he's like well, do you want it or not? Like are you scared? He was like one of the like like one of the digger guys on the team like had a bunch of fights. I'm like no, I'm not scared. No, I was like dude, I'm so scared. But I took the fight anyway and the guy was like the guy that I fought was honestly a prick and like not a good guy, but he's a solid fighter. He's still fighting now. I think he's actually on content. I think he actually might have like a big fight coming up this summer. I don't know, actually, if I'm allowed to say that, but yeah, he's still watching.
Mike Malott:Yeah, he's still fighting and doing well, but yeah, he was a really good Jitsu guy and I was like, okay, I can knock this guy out and I had some good Jitsu.
Mike Malott:I had a couple of things that I was good at at the time, like one closed guard arm bar specifically, and like this is you know, back when MMA was a lot more basic and he ended up taking me down a couple of minutes into the first round, but I ended up arm barring him and submitting him and it was like a huge upset that I submitted this like Jitsu guy.
Mike Malott:I think he was like a purple belt world champion or something like that. And so I caught him in the arm bar and just like that was the one of the most rocky Balboa moments of my life, where I like stood up in the ring and looked to who I thought was my corner it was actually his corner and they looked like really somber. And then I turned around and it was in a ring instead of a cage and like my coaches and teammates all jumped over the ring and like the commission was trying to like keep my team back and like 30 guys jumped over into the ring and like picked me up and carried me around. It was like the fourth part of the night, so there's still like four more fights, so it wasn't like it was even the main events, like all these dudes in like running shoes, like go arm and in, and people hugging each other like oh, that was amazing. I remember feeling like just the man. That night is a really cool experience.
Aaron Pete:It, and strength and passion are all things that kind of under underlie your career. Where did that come from for you?
Mike Malott:I grew up playing a lot of sports and then, honestly, I just have kind of like a think of the people that I was surrounded by like just a good, hardworking family, like my parents are super hard workers and we're both like fairly athletic growing up. That encouraged us athletically but we weren't like pushed heavily into athletics. I grew up playing hockey. I felt I always felt like sports were really important to me and I felt like I wasn't the most academic kid but as long as I was. You know I wanted to do better in school but I always felt like, okay, as long as I'm doing well in sports, like I'm doing okay. And you know, hockey is a gritty sport and being a small kid, like trying to keep up with their stronger kids, like you just kind of had to adapt or you were going to quit. Like you know, I remember being, I played football for one year in grade. I was going into grade seven and I had to lie and tell them I was 80 pounds to play football because it was like it'd be minimum 80 pounds and I was like 74 or something like that. Like I wasn't quite 80 and I was like, oh, I'm 80 pounds and I don't know Nobody checked but like, yeah, I remember just like trying to play football and like most of the kids on our offensive line other than our center, all those kids were over 200 pounds and we just like train wrecked the division, like I barely played at all but like our team was sick and I'm just like trying to keep up with these way bigger kids. So I think a little bit of the grittiness kind of comes from that. And then just through training, man like you just learn quickly that this isn't an easy sport. And if you want to make it far, like you're going to have to train when you don't want to and you're going to have to train through injuries, like if you wait to be completely injured to start training, like you're barely going to train. Man, like you're always a little bit injured, you're always beat up, you're always sore, like that's a tough sport.
Mike Malott:I pretty well like bought Aaron Jeffrey yesterday. It's like one of the best. He was fighting in the title eliminator for Bellator in a couple of weeks and helping him get ready. And we just, you know, basically fought in the gym yesterday like three, fives and like, all right, man, that's just like a Thursday with me. I'm like are you just fighting one of the best guys in the world in the gym? We're beating the hell out of each other. Like well, yeah, and now it's Friday, go to Jiu-Jitsu and go do your other stuff. Like you have other stuff to do and whatever man, no one cares.
Aaron Pete:One of my favorite parts is your social media, because I love the parts that you put in about the grind, about the hard work that's required.
Aaron Pete:I find that so admirable, and somebody who works in an office, somebody who's not out there grinding on the paved stone and working out in a gym every day it reminds us that we need to be grateful and that, like you're someone to aspire to be like, in the sense of your mental toughness, because I hear so much about like burnout at work and long hours and the lights that you get, and I just find some of that so disconnected from the reality that some people are willing to push when they have no energy.
Aaron Pete:They're willing to try harder when they have nothing left to give. They're willing to try and find a way when there's no other opportunities left. And I find that we, as regular people who don't do the work you do, we need to take in that inspiration and be reminded that when we have a long day in the office, it's nothing in comparison to what other people are grinding out in the real world, and so we need to appreciate that and I think it gives us a little bit more humility. But I'm just wondering any thoughts you have on people who are doing the nine to five and the work that goes into it and the mental toughness you've developed. What can we learn from the work that you put in every day?
Mike Malott:Well, thank you. First I would say, of course it's really tough and there are some mornings when I wake up and I really don't want to do this, you know, for a day or two or for a couple of sessions, and like man, I just not feel fun, like I'm not enjoying this right now. But I think it's just keeping in mind that you've made a commitment to yourself and like maintaining discipline is extremely important along a journey Like this is the journey I've chosen to do. I'm going to do it until I no longer can, or until I feel fulfilled or whatever, like the foreseeable future. I'm in this journey so just because it's Wednesday and your body soar and you're tired and you didn't sleep very well and you don't want to go in, like it doesn't really matter. Like you go in on Wednesdays, you go in on Thursdays, you go in on Fridays, like that's what you do.
Mike Malott:And I think sometimes it's just like do the first thing, just focus on the first thing. Like just get you know, get your bag packed, get ready and get in the car, and just like go to the gym. And once you're at the gym, you're like well, I'm already here, I'm going to start warming up. I'm already warm, I might as well do these drills. Right, I've already done these drills, I might as well go live. Well, I'm already going to go live. I might as well try and win. Like, just, it's one thing after like just just be short-sighted at times where it almost makes it easier, rather than, like you wake up first thing in the morning and you're like dude, how am I going to spar with like some of the killers I have to spar with? Like how to spar with those guys today? It's like, yeah, don't even worry about that right now, just get in the car, turn the car on, like that's, it makes it a little easier.
Mike Malott:But at the same time as many of those moments I have, I also have a lot of moments where I'm extremely grateful for this, because I do genuinely love doing this. Like, I love this sport. It's made me into a much stronger person than I probably would have been had I never gotten into the sport. It's made me a very happy person. It's introduced me to some of the most important people in my life and given me some absolutely incredible moments and experiences that I certainly would never have experienced had it not been for this sport. So you know there are definitely times that you have to grind through and, whether there's motivation or not, you have to find a way to keep going. But at the same time, I think it's easier to maintain discipline when you know it's something that you're passionate about and it's easier to stay on that path knowing that it's something you love.
Aaron Pete:Would you say that your experience is somewhat surreal? Because I imagine, like anybody gets good at saying something, say they're good at knitting, they're never going to do that on a world stage in front of people in that way and share that. And I got to watch you live in Vancouver. I got to watch Amon's a hobby live in Vancouver and sit there and admire the work that you've put in, all the things that we don't see as viewers. All the grinding, all the times where you fall down you get back up, and all the times you got up in the morning when you wanted to stay in bed and hit the alarm clock. Like we get to watch you on that performance night but so much goes into it.
Aaron Pete:Is it ever surreal to get up on the stage? I remember you talking at the pre-fight press conference and saying like you guys are in for a treat, like we're so happy to be back here, and that was so inspiring because it's a reminder that right next door could be somebody doing something incredibly amazing, shocking, something you couldn't even imagine doing that. We have amazing people within our country, within our provinces. We have aspirational people that you should want to be like, because they have a mental toughness that you don't always tap into as a regular citizen. So what is it like to be able to get up on those stages and get people excited, get people motivated to start to take those steps in their own lives?
Mike Malott:It's pretty cool, man. It's still definitely not lost on me Sorry, I'm losing you here a little bit, my camera's slipping. It's definitely still not lost on me that this is special and that this is cool. Like getting to get up in front of thousands of people at a press conference and grab a microphone would be like I'm going to kick this guy's ass on Saturday and have a big cheer and ask for a picture with you and tell you kind things and nice things about the work that you put in. It's really special to me and I don't honestly care at all about being a famous person.
Mike Malott:That's not my intention in doing this. Conor McGregor's the man and the sport wouldn't be the same without him. But I have a zero interest in being like a mega superstar like that. I do love getting the respect and admiration for hard work I put in. Like that does feel good, you know as much as it's like I don't worry about people's opinions.
Mike Malott:Like when I get messages from people telling me like man, you're doing a great job. Like I believe in you, I like what you're doing. Like that makes me feel amazing. Or if somebody stops me and asks me for a picture and or a word tells me like, yeah, man, I've seen your fights. Like great job. Like oh you, you know, I just moved to a new town, so I've had a few times where people are like, dude, you live around here, like what I had no idea. I'm like, yeah, I just moved out to this area so that that that feels really cool, like it's. It's, it's nice to be able to, to touch people's lives that you don't know because of something that you're passionate about, and like I do put so much work into this. So to feel it pay off in that way that it kind of does inspire others at times, that makes me feel really good.
Aaron Pete:It's so amazing to be able to sit down with you, because I think back at that Vancouver moment and you, like, have a snapshot in my mind of the moment that you won, when Amon won. Like you always, you play a special role in people's lives that they'll carry into the future and I imagine you have similar memories that you could compare it to with GSP and I'm wondering if you'd be able to talk about that, because when you say you don't want to be Connor McGregor the kind of perfect person that's famous but not crazy famous, not not overwhelmingly where it's like uncomfortable to live is GSP. He's respected, he's admired, he's looked up to by people more than he's chased by paparazzi I would say.
Aaron Pete:I'm sure you get some of that, but like he's got more of the respect from people than the drama, I would say.
Mike Malott:Yeah, yeah, some moments like that in my mind watching fights as a kid is. You know, saw him fight live once when he fought Jake Shield, but it was at such a distance, like it was such a big stadium so far away, that it didn't feel like that close. So most of those moments are from watching on TV. But I remember him finally winning that belt, the rematch with Matt Hughes, when he like faked low and went high and Matt Hughes went to catch the kick and he got kicked in the side of the head and George St Pierre got on top and landed some punches and elbows from close guard and the ref jumped in and normally you'd see George St Pierre do this like backflip and be all excited and you could just see the like melting of emotions, like it finally happened, like everything I put, everything I've been putting into the sport, came to fruition. You saw him just like crumble in front of everyone, like drop to his knees, like and it was such a raw emotional moment that that was incredibly powerful to see, as well as the rematch with Matt Sarah. So he lost his belt and then he fought Josh Koshik, I believe and then came back and fought.
Mike Malott:He might have come back and fought Matt Hughes a third time before then I think. Actually I think I think he was supposed to fight Matt Sarah and then Sarah pulled out and he fought Hughes for the interim belt or something like that. But then, yeah, when he fought Sarah and got that one back, the like knees to the body in Montreal and just walking off from that like I'm a huge Matt Sarah fan too, he's the man. But George is our guy man. He's like he's been carrying the flag for he's been carrying the flag for Canada for like 20 years, almost man. So that was pretty incredible getting to watch him regain his title and go on that absolute, absolutely legendary tear, just like running through the division and lapping the division. He's, you know, he's definitely like the guy for me.
Aaron Pete:Beautiful. We all have moments where we fall down, where we don't get the job, where we don't get the promotion, where we don't have the door opened, and I do think that art imitates life and mixed martial arts is absolutely an art form. I'm wondering if you can share your reflections on your last fight and what people can take away from that in their own lives, who may have been knocked down, who are trying to find a way to get back up and to rebuild themselves.
Mike Malott:Yeah, man, there's a ton of emotions that go along with that there's, you know you, first of all, I want to make sure that never happens Again. Right, I want to make sure I can do everything I can to be successful and to fix the mistakes that occurred last time. So you look for, like, what went wrong when? What can I fix what? You know, you almost want to reinvent the wheel, as like the first instinct, right, and I'm like, look, man, we're going to completely reinvent the wheel. There are things that need to be altered and I've spent the last month kind of dissecting what we do, where I think I fell short and how I can grow from that. Went down to the UFC Performance Institute and had some testing done, get a little more information about what my body needs to perform and to be at the highest level. So I have some new things that I wasn't doing before. So we're already adding those in. So that's already going to be like number one, a whole sealed from last time, but also like it was.
Mike Malott:It was. I'm not completely upset with the performance, right, like I thought the fight was going well until it didn't. There's a little bit of inexperience that that cost me in that fight. You know I went into that fight with like 14 minutes of UFC cage time and Neil Magni went in with almost seven hours of UFC cage time, right, so there was a massive disparity as far as experience is concerned. So I've been looking into ways and found some ways that I can close that gap with guys that are more experienced with me. I now, even though lost in the third round, feel a lot more comfortable with the idea of going later into fights. You know that was uncharted territory for me and while it didn't turn out the way that I wanted it to, I'm very confident that next time it'll turn out a lot better and I'm more confident going into those later rounds now, especially now that we've started working on sealing those holes that were obviously there last time. I think also just not being so married to a result like I oddly I oddly didn't feel I thought I'd feel more torn apart from a loss, to be honest, and as devastated as I was that I didn't get the results I wanted.
Mike Malott:I'm very proud of the work that I've put in. I'm very proud of how far I've come and I'm very proud of my team and how much work we've put in and how we've gotten to this point. You know I didn't just get to this point just to get to this point. I plan on going a lot further than I am right now, but I think there are a lot of positives to take away from this fight and a lot of things to be really happy about, and there are some things to fix. So we're focused on the things that we should be proud about or focused on the things that we need to fix, and it's just getting back on the horse.
Mike Malott:Man, like sometimes, mma is a crazy sport. Sometimes it goes a little bit, it gets a little bit weird, goes off the rails a little more than you expect. It's a wild sport, man. That's about, as you know, a minute and a half remaining in that fight. That's about as sure as you can be that a guy's about to win a fight and I ended up not winning that one. But yeah, I don't even remember what the initial question was, but I'm really just genuinely excited to get back on the horse, back on the grind, get back in the gym.
Mike Malott:Like I said, I'm helping my boy, aaron Jeffrey, get ready for his. You know he's fighting the number one contender in the world in Bellator, basically a title eliminator. He wins this fight, he's almost guaranteed a title fight in Bellator. He's, you know already, one of the best middle weights on the planet. He's a weight class up for me. He's in his prime. He's as sharp as he's ever been and I'm like getting back into training this week and going to war with this guy Like I don't even see, but like my face is all dinged up from us just scrapping, and like I'm excited to do it.
Mike Malott:It's like it feels rejuvenating to get back in there and have new things to focus on. Where I'm not like you know everything was almost going so well. Where I'm like okay, what's the thing that? I don't know I need to improve. And you know, when you lose it's like, dude, there's some, there's some pretty clear things that you need to improve on. So I'm really excited to run headfirst into these, these new styles of training that we're going to be adding in, these new drills, these new sessions, but also recognizing like it's, you know, don't reinvent the wheel Most of the stuff we were doing obviously worked.
Mike Malott:I was winning the fight. I was up two rounds, two and a half rounds, and so it's like a bittersweet thing. Where it's like I think you watch that fight and in my mind when I watch it I'm clearly one of the best guys in the world. I was getting the better of a guy who's a super crafty veteran and who's fought the best guys in the world and it's pretty hard to do that to him. But so you know, I'm not too down on myself, like I don't feel, I don't feel dejected, I don't feel like you know, I think some people after a loss, it really brings them down and I don't feel that way at all. I feel just really like excited about what's going to happen next.
Mike Malott:At first I was thrown off by the amount of unbelievable hate I was getting for that fight, for that performance. Like my DMs were hilarious, man, like I couldn't post a picture or I couldn't. You know nothing. You know I was getting. Everything I was getting tagged in was just like you suck, you know you need to retire, you're a piece of shit. Blah, blah, blah, dude. The amount of just hate that came my way.
Mike Malott:I'm like man, some people are just like so excited to watch somebody fall. So I thought that was at first. It was. It was like I wasn't prepared for that. It was like getting to me for for a few days, once I started being able to get back into the gym and like exercise again and start working and start moving in the right direction, I was like, oh, okay, now, if anything, I almost view it as like, because 80, like 80, 90% of these accounts that like on Instagram, that like comment that stuff on you, it's like no picture or just like some picture of like a famous person or someone that isn't them and it's like zero posts, eight followers follows, 2000 people. It's like, oh, you're just a burner.
Mike Malott:Like all you do is you're just like not happy with yourself and you see somebody else fail and it's probably what you're saying is more of like a reflection of yourself, and you see that in someone who's successful and, if anything, that probably brings you closer to someone who's having success, which is pretty sad man Like when you think about it like. So I do kind of pity those people where it's like man, you know you can turn this around for yourself too. You don't need to, you don't need to be like that, like that, that I'm almost like it's. It sounds disingenuous and like corny to be like. Oh, I feel bad for those people. Like they're just losers, like I don't mean it in like a mean way. I'm like dude.
Mike Malott:Like if that's genuinely the only way you can feel good about yourself is to be like someone successful also failed, and I feel like a failure and this is like the only connection I have with them so I'm going to dog on them for that Cause. Really like, I don't like that about myself. I'm like man, like that's really, that's really sad man Like you don't need to be like that, not for me. Like at this point I feel a lot better about it where I don't feel like when I see those things, it's not, like it doesn't really bother me anymore.
Mike Malott:Like when I see it, I'm not like when, when I really sit down and think about it, I'm like, man, that really really sucks. Man, like there's a lot of opportunity in life, man, there's a lot of abundance in life. Like I know I'm a blessed person, I know I have, like, my health, and I have things that other people don't don't have. You know, not everyone's blessed with health and everyone's blessed with the same opportunities or whatever, but like you can always improve your situation, man. Like if that's really all you have is to like dump on people and that's what makes you feel good, it's like, dude, that really is sad. Like I do feel genuinely bad for you. So those people, I hope, man, you find a way to turn things around for yourself, because that's too bad. Man, life's good and you can always be better.
Aaron Pete:Agreed. A few more quick questions. One is around the same topic. I'm just when you. When the night happened and you didn't win, I wanted to type up a response, and so I'm hoping you can help me figure out how to be like a good friend If I continue to interview UFC fighters. I'm just interested in your perspective. It seems like it would be it came across the wrong way in my head to say like, oh, you were destroying him and like you had that fight, like that wouldn't feel good to hear, because then you're like well, but I didn't get the result that I wanted, and then on the other hand, I'm like you'll get him next time.
Aaron Pete:That still felt like not hitting the note. How did you find people kind of approached you afterwards and in your mind, what's the best way to approach someone when they do fall down?
Mike Malott:That's a great question and if you find the right answer for that, I'd love to hear it. One of the best exchanges I had with somebody after the fight is one of my MMA Canadian idols. Mark Hominick came up to me in the hotel room after the fight and he just was like he gave me a big hug and they just like put his hand on my shoulder and he's like, ah man, and I'm like I know, like I know, like I don't know what to say either, like I don't know what to do. You know, I kind of I'd like to laugh because I've been around you know, I was at Alph Mill for a long time, so I've been around so many high level fighters that have big opportunities and have had wins and won those, and I've been around guys where they've lost these opportunities and it's like what do you say, man? And we kind of like both laughed about it. You know, I still even had like my shorts and my cup on. I've got into the hotel lobby, I hadn't gotten changed yet and it was just this like super authentic moment of just like him being like like we were just kind of started laughing. I'm like, dude, I don't know what to say either, man, I appreciate it though I can feel your energy, but yeah, man, I don't know what the right thing is.
Mike Malott:You know, when guys I've been around have lost, I just let them know I'm there for them, I love them and I care about them, I'm proud of them, regardless of the outcome. And that's honestly been one of the like biggest blessings from the losses. Like everything's great when you're winning. You know People want to be your friend, who's there with you, who's riding with you, and you know who texts you back and stuff when you're winning. And like when you lose, you hear people talk about how you know I think it was Miguel Cotto could be wrong, but I think it was Miguel Cotto, the boxer he's saying, like you win a fight and you get 10,000 texts and calls by the time you get back to your phone and you lose a fight and you have four missed calls and three of them are from your mom. And I didn't really have that experience. You know, I definitely got a lot of like hate on social media and stuff like that, a lot of negative energy, but I got an insane amount of positive energy. I had probably just almost as many messages after my losses I did after my wins and it was a lot of positivity from people, a lot of encouragement, a lot of support, a lot of people reassuring me and telling me they're behind me.
Mike Malott:And then the coming weeks after that continued, but even more so on a personal level, like the amount my family and my coaches were there for me after my fight, just like my mental coach, my Muay Thai coach, my Dujutsu coach. All these guys like call me back and called me every day to check in on me. And we're like setting up appointments for me. And my massage therapist too, one of my physiotherapists like my sister is one of them, but got another couple that are my physiomassage therapists and just gave me so much support, leaving it like, do you need anything? Can we set anything up for you? Like I can come to you. Like when my physiomassage therapist, chiropractor he Chris, he came to my house like, hey, man, like let me work on your neck. He probably had a lot of stress from that that might be causing some symptoms for you and just having bad amount of love and care from people who I'm close to. And we're just like, all right, it's all cool when you win, but really being there when things don't go well. That's when it really matters. So to see that support from those guys was really cool and I guess, kind of to bring it back to your question, it's awesome to congratulate somebody when they win and send them a man, great job, whatever.
Mike Malott:But I think, like almost regardless of what you say, unless you're just like telling somebody what they should have done, that's like the most annoying like.
Mike Malott:I roll like, yeah, no shit, like thanks, but just like even being there and sending somebody a message after they lose, I think is so much more important than sending someone a message after they win. Like sometimes I probably do forget to send my friends messages after they win. I see them on Instagram and like a post like hell yeah, my buddy won. But like I almost never forget to send somebody a message after I see them lose, just because I think it's so much more important to be there for someone that you care about and just like even just a little reminder like hey, man, I know you're putting a lot of work. I know this is upsetting, but results don't define you. Your character does it. I love you, appreciate you, I'm here for you if you need to talk or call like just something simple like that, just to kind of be there for that person after a loss. I think is a lot more important, beautiful.
Aaron Pete:Do you have any advice for others who fall down?
Mike Malott:Yeah, man, we all fall down. Just get up, and you know, dust yourself up, keep going. But like, reevaluate, right? Like you know, it's the Einstein quote, or whatever like the definition of insanity is doing something, failing and doing it the exact same way again and expecting a different result, right? So you know you should fail. You should fail at life.
Mike Malott:You know there are times where, like you know, even guys who are undefeated it's like they're not. They haven't gotten through this without defeat. At some points they're just really good at figuring out what they've done wrong in the past and growing from that and making the necessary adjustments. So, just, you know, get up, dust yourself off, realize why you fell, make the adjustments necessary to not fall when it matters and maybe that means falling every day, you know, maybe that means facing those things every day and getting used to those things to ensure that you don't fall when the time matters in the future. But yeah, man, and don't like, put so much pressure on yourself. Man, life's fun, enjoy yourself, work hard, work your ass off, pour yourself into what you love and enjoy it, but don't be so focused on the result.
Aaron Pete:Man, this is so motivational. The comeback king is coming. I'm wondering if you can leave a message, not for your supporters, but for the haters. What would you say to the people who are messaging you these terrible, terrible things? It sounds like you're on the rise again and you're coming back soon and we need to rub their faces in it.
Mike Malott:Man I feel like a younger version of me is would love to be with these guys, man, like dude. It's not about them for me at all. Like it's a much more selfish journey, I guess. Like it's for me, you know, I'm doing this for me. I'm not doing this for them. I'm gonna give a shit with those people, like you know. Like I'm doing this a lot more for me. I love this.
Mike Malott:Like I'd write way, rather, I'm way more doing this for that kid who like stopped me, you know, stops me outside the grocery store and is like dude I've seen you fight like that sick, like dude, you know gets all excited and ask me for a picture. Like dude, I spend the rest of my day thinking about that. Like that makes me happy man, I get like way more out of that. And like representing the people I care about and like doing right by my community and my country and my people and my circle than like the people that I'm trying to prove wrong. Like I'll do. Respect, fuck them. Like you know. Actually no due respect, you know. Whatever, fuck you.
Aaron Pete:Like you know like I'm here.
Mike Malott:Like you know I'm here to back my people and people who support me. You know, like the happy dad boys and the elk boys, all my gyms, my team, my training partners, my you know in Canada and California and Halifax. You know, like all these people who've supported me along the way, like I'm doing this for them, not for the people that doubt me, I don't care, there's always going to be doubters but like I'm here for the people that ride with me, you know.
Aaron Pete:That's the best answer. The name of this podcast is bigger than me, because it's all about the mindset of trying to lift others up and inspire others to follow in those amazing footsteps. How can people follow along with your journey and the amazing work you're doing?
Mike Malott:Thank you, man. Just yeah, most of my stuff is on my Instagram, michaelmallot. I don't have a next fight planned or booked or, you know, really in negotiations or anything, but trust that I'm making the necessary adjustments to grow from last time and you're going to see a much better version of me moving forward. I'm going to grow from this and become a much better fighter, like I'll be a better version of me than I ever could have had I not lost this fight. Like this will end up being the biggest blessing of my career. So just enjoy the journey, enjoy the show and pity who's next.
Aaron Pete:My favorite is inspirational quotes from individuals like yourself. The philosophy that goes in behind it is so important. I highly recommend people go follow you on Instagram, because that's the fuel when you're having a tough day at work. When you're not having a good day, you know somebody else is out there grinding three times as hard as you are trying to move forward. So thank you so much for being willing to share the time and such amazing insights. I appreciate you so much, mike.
Mike Malott:Thanks for having me on there and appreciate it. Largeth reflexologycom.