March 19, 2024 • 45 mins
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.
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Episode Transcript
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Aaron Pete (00:00):
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 fighterthat I had the privilege of
watching perform at UFC 289 inVancouver.
I find him to be motivationaland I think there's a lot we can
take away from fighters'journeys.
My guest today is proper MikeMalott.
(00:22):
Mike, I'm one of your biggestfans.
It's such an honor to sit downwith you.
Would you mind please telling alittle bit about yourself for
people who might not beacquainted with your work?
Mike Malott (00:35):
Yeah, so I'm Mike Malott.
I'm a UFC welterweight.
I've been with the UFC formaybe my debut.
Almost two years ago I gotsigned off Dana White's
contender series so I had themain event on contender series
with Dana White and won that onein 39 seconds by submission
(00:56):
with a guillotine.
Got into the UFC, made my debutat UFC 273, I believe I fought
Mickey Gull and I ended up TKOwing him in the first round,
knocking him out.
And then my second fight Ifought at an Apex fight I can't
remember which UFC Apex show itwas, to be honest, but I fought
(01:17):
Johann Leinass, the only otherCanadian I'm Canadian, so the
only other Canadian on theroster at Welterweight.
I fought him.
We both had a couple ofopponents fall through, I think,
and it just ended up making themost sense like to keep us both
on the card and so I fought himand I submitted him in the
first round with an arm triangle.
And then my third fight in theUFC I fought Adam Fugit in
(01:42):
Vancouver at UFC 289.
And I submitted him with aguillotine choke and then my
last outing out.
I fought Neil Magney and waswinning that fight and had a bad
, basically last minute of youknow was winning 13 and a half
minutes of the fight and had abad, you know, last 45 seconds.
(02:03):
Made a couple inexperiencedchoices and ended up losing that
one to Neil Magney by TK.
Owing the third, the end of thethird, at UFC 297 in Toronto at
the beginning of this year,first pay-per-view card of the
year.
Aaron Pete (02:19):
So yeah, beautiful summary.
I'm going to ask you to firsttake us back to the beginning.
When did MMA become a passionof yours?
Mike Malott (02:29):
I became obsessed with MMA almost immediately
after seeing it.
I remember being probably 12years old and seeing it on TV
for the first time.
I don't remember I rememberbasically the first two fights I
ever saw.
I don't remember which one wasfirst, but I remember seeing
Nate Corey versus Lodinson Cadeand Vitor Belfort versus Marvin
(02:52):
Eastman and Nate Corey TK OdeLodinson Cade with like standing
strikes and I think the fightstill might have been on the
feet when there was a stoppageand Vitor Belfort need Marvin
Eastman in the face and gave himlike a new eyebrow over the top
.
And I just remember watchingthat fight in particular and
thinking like you can do this,tuna, like this is something you
(03:14):
can do like legally, you'reallowed to do this.
It blew me away.
I had always been interested incombat in some form or another.
It was mostly through like justbeing a little kid and loving
like cartoons and superheroesand stuff like that.
But as it got older it got intolike combat sports and martial
(03:34):
arts and it was almost like loveat first sight for me, with MMA
and UFC in particular.
I just couldn't get enough ofit.
And the internet was just kindof.
You know, viewing things on theinternet wasn't really a thing
at the time, right?
So you'd have to go toBlockbuster and buy DVDs or rent
(03:55):
DVDs in order to watch thatstuff, or you'd have to find the
one time that it was on TV youknow, be home at 9 pm on a
Saturday or whatever Like youcouldn't just go online and
watch every fight you've everwanted.
So I really like valued gettingsome access to fights.
So I remember being at like HMVand finding like a Pride video
(04:16):
set.
It was like a DVD set and itwas like five different Pride
DVDs.
I was like, oh my God, that'samazing.
Like absolutely loved Prideback in the day.
And you know, buy whatever UFCDVD I could and just try and
absorb everything I could.
I had two textbooks in highschool.
(04:37):
I had one Ken Shamrockbiography slash like move
textbook and just studiedeverything I could through that.
And then later on, through afriend that actually met, eddie
Bravo, I got an Eddie Bravo 10thPlanet textbook.
They were like I don't actuallyknow what this is, but I
thought it was cool.
I met him like, do you want?
Like I know you like MMA andJiu Jitsu, do you want this?
(04:58):
I was like, yes, please, likegive me that I want to steal as
much as I can.
So just remember, like tryingto trying to learn as much as I
could and ended up going to alocal like karate traditional
martial arts gym and they hadsome kickboxing there.
I did some kickboxing trainingand a couple of fights out of
that gym and then the guy whoran the kickboxing practices he
(05:22):
wanted to do a little bit of MMAtraining as well but didn't
have you know the experience.
He had, like you know, a BJPenn book and I had those two
textbooks and we had a judocoach for a couple months and we
just basically like tookanything we could we could and
tried to train it and drill itand just mostly rolled and
trying to figure things out.
But it was a really fun time.
Aaron Pete (05:41):
What do you think stood out to you about it?
Was it the resilience that afighter could show?
Was it the aggressiveness?
What do you think pulled you inspecifically about?
Mike Malott (05:53):
Well, I was a tiny kid.
For my age I was always likethis 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 likethe second or third smallest kid
in my year.
So I think eventually that ledto some small man syndrome a
little bit and feeling like Ihad to prove myself.
(06:14):
I think MMA stood out to me aswhat I thought strength was and
what I thought toughness was.
So I thought, man, if Imastered that, I'd be strong and
I'd be tough, I'd feel moreconfident or whatever.
I think that was partially theinitial allure of MMA.
(06:37):
Then, just through going andwanting to get stronger and
wanting to get tougher, I endedup just falling in love with the
sport and pursue it for in someways, that same reason, but
different reasons now, just morethrough my actual passion,
rather than wanting to besomeone I am not.
Aaron Pete (06:57):
There's a huge hockey culture in Canada.
Was there any temptation?
Was there anything pulling youoff this path?
Or was it always MMA?
Mike Malott (07:05):
No, it was hockey first for sure.
Pretty well every Canadian kidwants to play in the NHL.
That was the dream.
And play for the Toronto MapleLeafs that was the dream as a
kid and became pretty apparentpretty quickly that I sucked at
hockey.
I never compete at any majorlevel.
I played basically the lowestlevel of travel competitive
(07:28):
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 toomuch of a space cadet man.
I just couldn't wrap my headaround being part of a team and
being one unit.
I think I've always thrived alittle bit better when it's all
(07:49):
on me.
I do definitely have a team nowand teams in Canada and
California and a bunch offriends and training partners
throughout Canada and whatever.
At the end of the day, it allcomes down to me.
When I win it's because Iperformed and when I fall short
it's because I didn't.
I feel like that's easier forme to wrap my head around than
(08:13):
team sports in some ways.
Aaron Pete (08:15):
I definitely sympathize with that.
One of the reasons you're myfavorite fighter is when we talk
about the Walter Wight Divisionand what's going on is we look
back at your pro debut in 2011and a first-round submission
over James Saunders.
Then, six weeks later, youforfeit your own purse to fly on
another opponent in to fightyou and you gave up your own pay
(08:37):
for that fight and you pulledoff the upset.
Would you mind taking us backto those early days?
Mike Malott (08:43):
Yeah, man, those were some cool days.
I didn't know what I was doingat all.
I had my first basically actualMMA 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 acatchweight at 140.
I was like I don't know if Ican make 140.
I was supposed to fight at 145.
(09:04):
I was much smaller at the time,I was 19.
It was my pro debut.
Amateur MMA was illegal at thetime.
It might still be in NovaScotia.
If you wanted to have an MMAfight, you had to go pro.
All right, my coach runs apromotion, let's just go pro.
I'm like, guys, I don't know ifI can make 140.
And they're like oh, don'tworry, We'll teach you how We'll
(09:25):
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 inthe sauna when you can't stand
up on your own.
It was horrible, man.
I weighed in at like actually,the catch rate was 141 and we
got a one pound allowance.
(09:46):
I was like 142, carried ontothe scale type thing.
I had no idea what I was doing.
I remember I was alreadyfeeling drawn out the night
before weigh-ins and I was 157the night before.
I was like, okay, I have 16pounds to go and I've never cut
weight before.
(10:06):
I'm already drawn out and Ihaven'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.
So I ended up having that fightand I won that.
That was actually in our gym,Pelukas Boxing Club at the time.
It was an old movie theaterthat had been turned into a
(10:29):
nonprofit boxing and MMA gymSuper cool, that was awesome.
I had one and then my weightballooned back up and I just I
think I ate cake for dinner likethree nights and just like was
so bloated and wanted to help afriend, Spar, who had a fight a
couple of weeks later and Iremember him warming up,
(10:49):
touching me to the body and mebeing like, oh my God, my body
is like so swollen.
But yeah, then I had that otherfight like five or six weeks
later and that kid at the timewas so I was one and oh, he was
three and oh, and I knew who hewas.
He was like a hot prospect inCanada.
He had a few teammates thatwere doing really well.
One of them ended up going onwell, going on to be he is Misha
(11:13):
Serkanov, right.
So I ended up having a bunch offights in the UFC and being like
a high level fighter, but theyhad a few really good grapplers
from their team fight.
You know, they had a few goodfighters on their team and I
knew who this guy was and whowas wrestling coach.
I had heard a lot of hypearound him and that was another
(11:34):
like change in weight.
I was supposed to fight at 155for that fight against some guy
who was like it was just whothey could find me.
It was like two and seven orsomething.
That guy pulled out and waslike, okay, I guess I'm not
fighting.
And then the week before thefight, the promoter, who was
like a friend and trainingpartner, 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 myweight ballooned up after doing
(11:58):
that, that horrible weight cut.
So this is going to be hard, asis.
And he's like and I'm having tofly him in from Toronto and I
can't afford to fly him in andpay you, so you're not getting
paid for this one.
I was like okay, he's like well,do you want it or not?
Like are you scared?
He was like one of the likelike one of the digger guys on
the team like had a bunch offights.
I'm like no, I'm not scared.
No, I was like dude, I'm soscared.
(12:18):
But I took the fight anyway andthe guy was like the guy that I
fought was honestly a prick andlike not a good guy, but he's a
solid fighter.
He's still fighting now.
I think he's actually oncontent.
I think he actually might havelike a big fight coming up this
(12:39):
summer.
I don't know, actually, if I'mallowed to say that, but yeah,
he's still watching.
Yeah, he's still fighting anddoing well, but yeah, he was a
really good Jitsu guy and I waslike, okay, I can knock this guy
out and I had some good Jitsu.
I had a couple of things that Iwas good at at the time, like
one closed guard arm barspecifically, and like this is
you know, back when MMA was alot more basic and he ended up
(13:02):
taking me down a couple ofminutes into the first round,
but I ended up arm barring himand submitting him and it was
like a huge upset that Isubmitted this like Jitsu guy.
I think he was like a purplebelt world champion or something
like that.
And so I caught him in the armbar and just like that was the
one of the most rocky Balboamoments of my life, where I like
stood up in the ring and lookedto who I thought was my corner
(13:25):
it was actually his corner andthey looked like really somber.
And then I turned around and itwas in a ring instead of a cage
and like my coaches andteammates all jumped over the
ring and like the commission wastrying to like keep my team
back and like 30 guys jumpedover into the ring and like
picked me up and carried mearound.
It was like the fourth part ofthe night, so there's still like
four more fights, so it wasn'tlike it was even the main events
, like all these dudes in likerunning shoes, like go arm and
(13:46):
in, and people hugging eachother like oh, that was amazing.
I remember feeling like justthe man.
That night is a really coolexperience.
Aaron Pete (13:56):
It, and strength and passion are all things that
kind of under underlie yourcareer.
Where did that come from foryou?
Mike Malott (14:06):
I grew up playing a lot of sports and then,
honestly, I just have kind oflike a think of the people that
I was surrounded by like just agood, hardworking family, like
my parents are super hardworkers and we're both like
fairly athletic growing up.
That encouraged us athleticallybut we weren't like pushed
(14:26):
heavily into athletics.
I grew up playing hockey.
I felt I always felt likesports were really important to
me and I felt like I wasn't themost academic kid but as long as
I was.
You know I wanted to do betterin school but I always felt like
, okay, as long as I'm doingwell in sports, like I'm doing
(14:46):
okay.
And you know, hockey is agritty sport and being a small
kid, like trying to keep up withtheir stronger kids, like you
just kind of had to adapt or youwere going to quit.
Like you know, I remember being, I played football for one year
in grade.
I was going into grade sevenand I had to lie and tell them I
(15:09):
was 80 pounds to play footballbecause it was like it'd be
minimum 80 pounds and I was like74 or something like that.
Like I wasn't quite 80 and Iwas like, oh, I'm 80 pounds and
I don't know Nobody checked butlike, yeah, I remember just like
trying to play football andlike most of the kids on our
offensive line other than ourcenter, all those kids were over
(15:29):
200 pounds and we just liketrain wrecked the division, like
I barely played at all but likeour team was sick and I'm just
like trying to keep up withthese way bigger kids.
So I think a little bit of thegrittiness 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
(15:52):
train when you don't want to andyou're going to have to train
through injuries, like if youwait to be completely injured to
start training, like you'rebarely going to train.
Man, like you're always alittle bit injured, you're
always beat up, you're alwayssore, like that's a tough sport.
I pretty well like bought AaronJeffrey yesterday.
It's like one of the best.
(16:12):
He was fighting in the titleeliminator for Bellator in a
couple of weeks and helping himget ready.
And we just, you know,basically fought in the gym
yesterday like three, fives andlike, all right, man, that's
just like a Thursday with me.
I'm like are you just fightingone of the best guys in the
world in the gym?
We're beating the hell out ofeach other.
Like well, yeah, and now it'sFriday, go to Jiu-Jitsu and go
(16:33):
do your other stuff.
Like you have other stuff to doand whatever man, no one cares.
Aaron Pete (16:38):
One of my favorite parts is your social media,
because I love the parts thatyou put in about the grind,
about the hard work that'srequired.
I find that so admirable, andsomebody who works in an office,
somebody who's not out theregrinding on the paved stone and
working out in a gym every dayit reminds us that we need to be
grateful and that, like you'resomeone to aspire to be like, in
(17:00):
the sense of your mentaltoughness, because I hear so
much about like burnout at workand long hours and the lights
that you get, and I just findsome of that so disconnected
from the reality that somepeople are willing to push when
they have no energy.
They're willing to try harderwhen they have nothing left to
give.
They're willing to try and finda way when there's no other
opportunities left.
And I find that we, as regularpeople who don't do the work you
(17:24):
do, we need to take in thatinspiration and be reminded that
when we have a long day in theoffice, it's nothing in
comparison to what other peopleare grinding out in the real
world, and so we need toappreciate that and I think it
gives us a little bit morehumility.
But I'm just wondering anythoughts you have on people who
are doing the nine to five andthe work that goes into it and
the mental toughness you'vedeveloped.
What can we learn from the workthat you put in every day?
Mike Malott (17:47):
Well, thank you.
First I would say, of courseit's really tough and there are
some mornings when I wake up andI really don't want to do this,
you know, for a day or two orfor 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 keepingin mind that you've made a
(18:09):
commitment to yourself and likemaintaining discipline is
extremely important along ajourney Like this is the journey
I've chosen to do.
I'm going to do it until I nolonger can, or until I feel
fulfilled or whatever, like theforeseeable future.
I'm in this journey so justbecause it's Wednesday and your
(18:32):
body soar and you're tired andyou didn't sleep very well and
you don't want to go in, like itdoesn't really matter.
Like you go in on Wednesdays,you go in on Thursdays, you go
in on Fridays, like that's whatyou do.
And I think sometimes it's justlike do the first thing, just
focus on the first thing.
Like just get you know, getyour bag packed, get ready and
(18:54):
get in the car, and just like goto the gym.
And once you're at the gym,you're like well, I'm already
here, I'm going to start warmingup.
I'm already warm, I might aswell do these drills.
Right, I've already done thesedrills, I might as well go live.
Well, I'm already going to golive.
I might as well try and win.
Like, just, it's one thingafter like just just be
short-sighted at times where italmost makes it easier, rather
(19:15):
than, like you wake up firstthing in the morning and you're
like dude, how am I going tospar with like some of the
killers I have to spar with?
Like how to spar with thoseguys today?
It's like, yeah, don't evenworry about that right now, just
get in the car, turn the car on, like that's, it makes it a
little easier.
But at the same time as many ofthose moments I have, I also
have a lot of moments where I'mextremely grateful for this,
(19:38):
because I do genuinely lovedoing this.
Like, I love this sport.
It's made me into a muchstronger person than I probably
would have been had I nevergotten into the sport.
It's made me a very happyperson.
It's introduced me to some ofthe most important people in my
life and given me someabsolutely incredible moments
(20:00):
and experiences that I certainlywould never have experienced
had it not been for this sport.
So you know there aredefinitely times that you have
to grind through and, whetherthere's motivation or not, you
have to find a way to keep going.
But at the same time, I thinkit's easier to maintain
discipline when you know it'ssomething that you're passionate
(20:21):
about and it's easier to stayon that path knowing that it's
something you love.
Aaron Pete (20:27):
Would you say that your experience is somewhat
surreal?
Because I imagine, like anybodygets good at saying something,
say they're good at knitting,they're never going to do that
on a world stage in front ofpeople in that way and share
that.
And I got to watch you live inVancouver.
I got to watch Amon's a hobbylive in Vancouver and sit there
and admire the work that you'veput in, all the things that we
(20:47):
don't see as viewers.
All the grinding, all the timeswhere you fall down you get
back up, and all the times yougot up in the morning when you
wanted to stay in bed and hitthe alarm clock.
Like we get to watch you onthat performance night but so
much goes into it.
Is it ever surreal to get up onthe stage?
I remember you talking at thepre-fight press conference and
saying like you guys are in fora treat, like we're so happy to
(21:07):
be back here, and that was soinspiring because it's a
reminder that right next doorcould be somebody doing
something incredibly amazing,shocking, something you couldn't
even imagine doing that.
We have amazing people withinour country, within our
provinces.
We have aspirational peoplethat you should want to be like,
because they have a mentaltoughness that you don't always
tap into as a regular citizen.
(21:28):
So what is it like to be ableto get up on those stages and
get people excited, get peoplemotivated to start to take those
steps in their own lives?
Mike Malott (21:36):
It's pretty cool, man.
It's still definitely not loston me Sorry, I'm losing you here
a little bit, my camera'sslipping.
It's definitely still not loston me that this is special and
that this is cool.
Like getting to get up in frontof thousands of people at a
press conference and grab amicrophone would be like I'm
going to kick this guy's ass onSaturday and have a big cheer
(21:59):
and ask for a picture with youand tell you kind things and
nice things about the work thatyou put in.
It's really special to me and Idon't honestly care at all
about being a famous person.
That's not my intention in doingthis.
Conor McGregor's the man andthe sport wouldn't be the same
(22:20):
without him.
But I have a zero interest inbeing like a mega superstar like
that.
I do love getting the respectand admiration for hard work I
put in.
Like that does feel good, youknow as much as it's like I
don't worry about people'sopinions.
(22:41):
Like when I get messages frompeople telling me like man,
you're doing a great job.
Like I believe in you, I likewhat you're doing.
Like that makes me feel amazing.
Or if somebody stops me andasks 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 justmoved to a new town, so I've had
a few times where people arelike, dude, you live around here
, like what I had no idea.
(23:02):
I'm like, yeah, I just movedout to this area so that that
that feels really cool, likeit's.
It's, it's nice to be able to,to touch people's lives that you
don't know because of somethingthat you're passionate about,
and like I do put so much workinto this.
So to feel it pay off in thatway that it kind of does inspire
(23:23):
others at times, that makes mefeel really good.
Aaron Pete (23:27):
It's so amazing to be able to sit down with you,
because I think back at thatVancouver moment and you, like,
have a snapshot in my mind ofthe moment that you won, when
Amon won.
Like you always, you play aspecial role in people's lives
that they'll carry into thefuture and I imagine you have
similar memories that you couldcompare it to with GSP and I'm
wondering if you'd be able totalk about that, because when
(23:48):
you say you don't want to beConnor McGregor the kind of
perfect person that's famous butnot crazy famous, not not
overwhelmingly where it's likeuncomfortable to live is GSP.
He's respected, he's admired,he's looked up to by people more
than he's chased by paparazzi Iwould say.
I'm sure you get some of that,but like he's got more of the
respect from people than thedrama, I would say.
Mike Malott (24:09):
Yeah, yeah, some moments like that in my mind
watching fights as a kid is.
You know, saw him fight liveonce 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 feellike that close.
So most of those moments arefrom watching on TV.
(24:31):
But I remember him finallywinning that belt, the rematch
with Matt Hughes, when he likefaked low and went high and Matt
Hughes went to catch the kickand he got kicked in the side of
the head and George St Pierregot on top and landed some
punches and elbows from closeguard and the ref jumped in and
normally you'd see George StPierre do this like backflip and
be all excited and you couldjust see the like melting of
(24:53):
emotions, like it finallyhappened, like everything I put,
everything I've been puttinginto the sport, came to fruition
.
You saw him just like crumblein front of everyone, like drop
to his knees, like and it wassuch a raw emotional moment that
that was incredibly powerful tosee, as well as the rematch
(25:13):
with Matt Sarah.
So he lost his belt and then hefought Josh Koshik, I believe
and then came back and fought.
He might have come back andfought Matt Hughes a third time
before then I think.
Actually I think I think he wassupposed to fight Matt Sarah
and then Sarah pulled out and hefought Hughes for the interim
belt or something like that.
But then, yeah, when he foughtSarah and got that one back, the
(25:36):
like knees to the body inMontreal and just walking off
from that like I'm a huge MattSarah fan too, he's the man.
But George is our guy man.
He's like he's been carryingthe flag for he's been carrying
the flag for Canada for like 20years, almost man.
So that was pretty incrediblegetting to watch him regain his
title and go on that absolute,absolutely legendary tear, just
(26:02):
like running through thedivision and lapping the
division.
He's, you know, he's definitelylike the guy for me.
Aaron Pete (26:09):
Beautiful.
We all have moments where wefall down, where we don't get
the job, where we don't get thepromotion, where we don't have
the door opened, and I do thinkthat art imitates life and mixed
martial arts is absolutely anart form.
I'm wondering if you can shareyour reflections on your last
fight and what people can takeaway from that in their own
(26:29):
lives, who may have been knockeddown, who are trying to find a
way to get back up and torebuild themselves.
Mike Malott (26:36):
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 Ican do everything I can to be
successful and to fix themistakes that occurred last time
.
So you look for, like, whatwent wrong when?
What can I fix what?
You know, you almost want toreinvent the wheel, as like the
(26:58):
first instinct, right, and I'mlike, look, man, we're going to
completely reinvent the wheel.
There are things that need tobe altered and I've spent the
last month kind of dissectingwhat we do, where I think I fell
short and how I can grow fromthat.
Went down to the UFCPerformance Institute and had
(27:19):
some testing done, get a littlemore information about what my
body needs to perform and to beat the highest level.
So I have some new things thatI wasn't doing before.
So we're already adding thosein.
So that's already going to belike number one, a whole sealed
from last time, but also like itwas.
(27:40):
It was.
I'm not completely upset withthe performance, right, like I
thought the fight was going welluntil it didn't.
There's a little bit ofinexperience that that cost me
in that fight.
You know I went into that fightwith like 14 minutes of UFC
cage time and Neil Magni went inwith almost seven hours of UFC
cage time, right, so there was amassive disparity as far as
(28:05):
experience is concerned.
So I've been looking into waysand found some ways that I can
close that gap with guys thatare more experienced with me.
I now, even though lost in thethird round, feel a lot more
comfortable with the idea ofgoing later into fights.
You know that was unchartedterritory for me and while it
(28:26):
didn't turn out the way that Iwanted it to, I'm very confident
that next time it'll turn out alot better and I'm more
confident going into those laterrounds now, especially now that
we've started working onsealing those holes that were
obviously there last time.
I think also just not being somarried to a result like I oddly
(28:54):
I oddly didn't feel I thoughtI'd feel more torn apart from a
loss, to be honest, and asdevastated as I was that I
didn't get the results I wanted.
I'm very proud of the work thatI've put in.
I'm very proud of how far I'vecome and I'm very proud of my
team and how much work we've putin and how we've gotten to this
(29:15):
point.
You know I didn't just get tothis point just to get to this
point.
I plan on going a lot furtherthan I am right now, but I think
there are a lot of positives totake away from this fight and a
lot of things to be reallyhappy about, and there are some
things to fix.
So we're focused on the thingsthat we should be proud about or
focused on the things that weneed to fix, and it's just
(29:38):
getting back on the horse.
Man, like sometimes, mma is acrazy sport.
Sometimes it goes a little bit,it gets a little bit weird,
goes off the rails a little morethan you expect.
It's a wild sport, man.
That's about, as you know, aminute and a half remaining in
that fight.
That's about as sure as you canbe that a guy's about to win a
fight and I ended up not winningthat one.
(30:02):
But yeah, I don't even rememberwhat the initial question was,
but I'm really just genuinelyexcited to get back on the horse
, back on the grind, get back inthe gym.
Like I said, I'm helping my boy,aaron Jeffrey, get ready for
his.
You know he's fighting thenumber one contender in the
(30:23):
world in Bellator, basically atitle eliminator.
He wins this fight, he's almostguaranteed a title fight in
Bellator.
He's, you know already, one ofthe 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 beenand I'm like getting back into
training this week and going towar with this guy Like I don't
even see, but like my face isall dinged up from us just
(30:46):
scrapping, and like I'm excitedto do it.
It's like it feels rejuvenatingto get back in there and have
new things to focus on.
Where I'm not like you knoweverything was almost going so
well.
Where I'm like okay, what's thething that?
I don't know I need to improve.
And you know, when you loseit's like, dude, there's some,
there's some pretty clear thingsthat you need to improve on.
(31:08):
So I'm really excited to runheadfirst into these, these new
styles of training that we'regoing to be adding in, these new
drills, these new sessions, butalso recognizing like it's, you
know, don't reinvent the wheelMost of the stuff we were doing
obviously worked.
I was winning the fight.
I was up two rounds, two and ahalf rounds, and so it's like a
(31:30):
bittersweet thing.
Where it's like I think youwatch that fight and in my mind
when I watch it I'm clearly oneof the best guys in the world.
I was getting the better of aguy who's a super crafty veteran
and who's fought the best guysin the world and it's pretty
hard to do that to him.
But so you know, I'm not toodown on myself, like I don't
(31:54):
feel, I don't feel dejected, Idon'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 excitedabout what's going to happen
next.
At first I was thrown off by theamount of unbelievable hate I
(32:18):
was getting for that fight, forthat 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 taggedin was just like you suck, you
know you need to retire, you'rea piece of shit.
Blah, blah, blah, dude.
The amount of just hate thatcame my way.
I'm like man, some people arejust like so excited to watch
(32:39):
somebody fall.
So I thought that was at first.
It was.
It was like I wasn't preparedfor that.
It was like getting to me forfor a few days, once I started
being able to get back into thegym and like exercise again and
start working and start movingin the right direction, I was
like, oh, okay, now, if anything, I almost view it as like,
because 80, like 80, 90% ofthese accounts that like on
(33:02):
Instagram, that like commentthat stuff on you, it's like no
picture or just like somepicture of like a famous person
or someone that isn't them andit's like zero posts, eight
followers follows, 2000 people.
It's like, oh, you're just aburner.
Like all you do is you're justlike not happy with yourself and
you see somebody else fail andit's probably what you're saying
(33:25):
is more of like a reflection ofyourself, and you see that in
someone who's successful and, ifanything, that probably brings
you closer to someone who'shaving success, which is pretty
sad man Like when you thinkabout it like.
So I do kind of pity thosepeople where it's like man, you
know you can turn this aroundfor yourself too.
You don't need to, you don'tneed to be like that, like that,
(33:46):
that I'm almost like it's.
It sounds disingenuous and likecorny to be like.
Oh, I feel bad for those people.
Like they're just losers, likeI don't mean it in like a mean
way.
I'm like dude.
Like if that's genuinely theonly way you can feel good about
yourself is to be like someonesuccessful also failed, and I
feel like a failure and this islike the only connection I have
with them so I'm going to dog onthem for that Cause.
(34:07):
Really like, I don't like thatabout myself.
I'm like man, like that'sreally, that's really sad man
Like you don't need to be likethat, not for me.
Like at this point I feel a lotbetter about it where I don't
feel like when I see thosethings, it's not, like it
doesn't really bother me anymore.
Like when I see it, I'm not likewhen, when I really sit down
and think about it, I'm like,man, that really really sucks.
(34:29):
Man, like there's a lot ofopportunity in life, man,
there's a lot of abundance inlife.
Like I know I'm a blessedperson, I know I have, like, my
health, and I have things thatother people don't don't have.
You know, not everyone'sblessed with health and
everyone's blessed with the sameopportunities or whatever, but
like you can always improve yoursituation, man.
Like if that's really all youhave is to like dump on people
(34:54):
and that's what makes you feelgood, it's like, dude, that
really is sad.
Like I do feel genuinely badfor you.
So those people, I hope, man,you find a way to turn things
around for yourself, becausethat's too bad.
Man, life's good and you canalways be better.
Aaron Pete (35:09):
Agreed.
A few more quick questions.
One is around the same topic.
I'm just when you.
When the night happened and youdidn't win, I wanted to type up
a response, and so I'm hopingyou can help me figure out how
to be like a good friend If Icontinue to interview UFC
fighters.
I'm just interested in yourperspective.
It seems like it would be itcame across the wrong way in my
(35:31):
head to say like, oh, you weredestroying him and like you had
that fight, like that wouldn'tfeel good to hear, because then
you're like well, but I didn'tget the result that I wanted,
and then on the other hand, I'mlike you'll get him next time.
That still felt like not hittingthe note.
How did you find people kind ofapproached you afterwards and
in your mind, what's the bestway to approach someone when
they do fall down?
Mike Malott (35:52):
That's a great question and if you find the
right answer for that, I'd loveto hear it.
One of the best exchanges I hadwith somebody after the fight
is one of my MMA Canadian idols.
Mark Hominick came up to me inthe hotel room after the fight
and he just was like he gave mea big hug and they just like put
his hand on my shoulder andhe's like, ah man, and I'm like
(36:17):
I know, like I know, like Idon't know what to say either,
like I don't know what to do.
You know, I kind of I'd like tolaugh because I've been around
you know, I was at Alph Mill fora long time, so I've been
around so many high levelfighters that have big
opportunities and have had winsand won those, and I've been
around guys where they've lostthese opportunities and it's
like what do you say, man?
And we kind of like bothlaughed about it.
(36:39):
You know, I still even had likemy shorts and my cup on.
I've got into the hotel lobby,I hadn't gotten changed yet and
it was just this like superauthentic moment of just like
him being like like we were justkind of started laughing.
I'm like, dude, I don't knowwhat to say either, man, I
(37:00):
appreciate it though I can feelyour energy, but yeah, man, I
don't know what the right thingis.
You know, when guys I've beenaround have lost, I just let
them know I'm there for them, Ilove them and I care about them,
I'm proud of them, regardlessof the outcome.
And that's honestly been one ofthe like biggest blessings from
the losses.
(37:20):
Like everything's great whenyou're winning.
You know People want to be yourfriend, who's there with you,
who's riding with you, and youknow who texts you back and
stuff when you're winning.
And like when you lose, youhear people talk about how you
know I think it was Miguel Cottocould be wrong, but I think it
was Miguel Cotto, the boxer he'ssaying, like you win a fight
(37:41):
and you get 10,000 texts andcalls by the time you get back
to your phone and you lose afight and you have four missed
calls and three of them are fromyour mom.
And I didn't really have thatexperience.
You know, I definitely got alot of like hate on social media
and stuff like that, a lot ofnegative energy, but I got an
insane amount of positive energy.
I had probably just almost asmany messages after my losses I
(38:05):
did after my wins and it was alot of positivity from people, a
lot of encouragement, a lot ofsupport, a lot of people
reassuring me and telling methey're behind me.
And then the coming weeks afterthat continued, but even more so
on a personal level, like theamount my family and my coaches
(38:26):
were there for me after my fight, just like my mental coach, my
Muay Thai coach, my Dujutsucoach.
All these guys like call meback and called me every day to
check in on me.
And we're like setting upappointments for me.
And my massage therapist too,one of my physiotherapists like
my sister is one of them, butgot another couple that are my
(38:47):
physiomassage therapists andjust gave me so much support,
leaving it like, do you needanything?
Can we set anything up for you?
Like I can come to you.
Like when my physiomassagetherapist, chiropractor he Chris
, he came to my house like, hey,man, like let me work on your
neck.
He probably had a lot of stressfrom that that might be causing
(39:08):
some symptoms for you and justhaving bad amount of love and
care from people who I'm closeto.
And we're just like, all right,it's all cool when you win, but
really being there when thingsdon't go well.
That's when it really matters.
So to see that support fromthose guys was really cool and I
(39:28):
guess, kind of to bring it backto your question, it's awesome
to congratulate somebody whenthey win and send them a man,
great job, whatever.
But I think, like almostregardless of what you say,
unless you're just like tellingsomebody what they should have
done, that's like the mostannoying like.
I roll like, yeah, no shit, likethanks, but just like even
being there and sending somebodya message after they lose, I
(39:50):
think is so much more importantthan sending someone a message
after they win.
Like sometimes I probably doforget to send my friends
messages after they win.
I see them on Instagram andlike a post like hell yeah, my
buddy won.
But like I almost never forgetto send somebody a message after
I see them lose, just because Ithink it's so much more
important to be there forsomeone that you care about and
(40:11):
just like even just a littlereminder like hey, man, I know
you're putting a lot of work.
I know this is upsetting, butresults don't define you.
Your character does it.
I love you, appreciate you, I'mhere for you if you need to
talk or call like just somethingsimple like that, just to kind
of be there for that personafter a loss.
(40:34):
I think is a lot more important, beautiful.
Aaron Pete (40:38):
Do you have any advice for others who fall down?
Mike Malott (40:42):
Yeah, man, we all fall down.
Just get up, and you know, dustyourself up, keep going.
But like, reevaluate, right?
Like you know, it's theEinstein quote, or whatever like
the definition of insanity isdoing something, failing and
doing it the exact same wayagain and expecting a different
result, right?
So you know you should fail.
(41:04):
You should fail at life.
You know there are times where,like you know, even guys who are
undefeated it's like they'renot.
They haven't gotten throughthis without defeat.
At some points they're justreally good at figuring out what
they've done wrong in the pastand growing from that and making
the necessary adjustments.
So, just, you know, get up,dust yourself off, realize why
(41:26):
you fell, make the adjustmentsnecessary to not fall when it
matters and maybe that meansfalling every day, you know,
maybe that means facing thosethings every day and getting
used to those things to ensurethat you don't fall when the
time matters in the future.
But yeah, man, and don't like,put so much pressure on yourself
(41:47):
.
Man, life's fun, enjoy yourself, work hard, work your ass off,
pour yourself into what you loveand enjoy it, but don't be so
focused on the result.
Aaron Pete (42:00):
Man, this is so motivational.
The comeback king is coming.
I'm wondering if you can leavea message, not for your
supporters, but for the haters.
What would you say to thepeople who are messaging you
these terrible, terrible things?
It sounds like you're on therise again and you're coming
back soon and we need to rubtheir faces in it.
Mike Malott (42:18):
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 atall.
Like it's a much more selfishjourney, I guess.
Like it's for me, you know, I'mdoing this for me.
I'm not doing this for them.
I'm gonna give a shit withthose people, like you know.
(42:40):
Like I'm doing this a lot morefor me.
I love this.
Like I'd write way, rather, I'mway more doing this for that kid
who like stopped me, you know,stops me outside the grocery
store and is like dude I've seenyou fight like that sick, like
dude, you know gets all excitedand ask me for a picture.
Like dude, I spend the rest ofmy day thinking about that.
Like that makes me happy man, Iget like way more out of that.
(43:00):
And like representing thepeople I care about and like
doing right by my community andmy country and my people and my
circle than like the people thatI'm trying to prove wrong.
Like I'll do.
Respect, fuck them.
Like you know.
Actually no due respect, youknow.
Whatever, fuck you.
Aaron Pete (43:15):
Like you know like I'm here.
Mike Malott (43:16):
Like you know I'm here to back my people and
people who support me.
You know, like the happy dadboys and the elk boys, all my
gyms, my team, my trainingpartners, my you know in Canada
and California and Halifax.
You know, like all these peoplewho've supported me along the
way, like I'm doing this forthem, not for the people that
doubt me, I don't care, there'salways going to be doubters but
(43:39):
like I'm here for the peoplethat ride with me, you know.
Aaron Pete (43:41):
That's the best answer.
The name of this podcast isbigger than me, because it's all
about the mindset of trying tolift others up and inspire
others to follow in thoseamazing footsteps.
How can people follow alongwith your journey and the
amazing work you're doing?
Mike Malott (43:54):
Thank you, man.
Just yeah, most of my stuff ison my Instagram, michaelmallot.
I don't have a next fightplanned or booked or, you know,
really in negotiations oranything, but trust that I'm
making the necessary adjustmentsto grow from last time and
you're going to see a muchbetter version of me moving
forward.
I'm going to grow from this andbecome a much better fighter,
(44:18):
like I'll be a better version ofme than I ever could have had I
not lost this fight.
Like this will end up being thebiggest blessing of my career.
So just enjoy the journey,enjoy the show and pity who's
next.
Aaron Pete (44:33):
My favorite is inspirational quotes from
individuals like yourself.
The philosophy that goes inbehind it is so important.
I highly recommend people gofollow you on Instagram, because
that's the fuel when you'rehaving a tough day at work.
When you're not having a goodday, you know somebody else is
out there grinding three timesas hard as you are trying to
move forward.
So thank you so much for beingwilling to share the time and
(44:53):
such amazing insights.
I appreciate you so much, mike.
Mike Malott (44:57):
Thanks for having me on there and appreciate it.
Largeth reflexologycom.
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 fighterthat I had the privilege of
watching perform at UFC 289 inVancouver.
I find him to be motivationaland I think there's a lot we can
take away from fighters'journeys.
My guest today is proper MikeMalott.
(00:22):
Mike, I'm one of your biggestfans.
It's such an honor to sit downwith you.
Would you mind please telling alittle bit about yourself for
people who might not beacquainted with your work?
Mike Malott (00:35):
Yeah, so I'm Mike Malott.
I'm a UFC welterweight.
I've been with the UFC formaybe my debut.
Almost two years ago I gotsigned off Dana White's
contender series so I had themain event on contender series
with Dana White and won that onein 39 seconds by submission
(00:56):
with a guillotine.
Got into the UFC, made my debutat UFC 273, I believe I fought
Mickey Gull and I ended up TKOwing him in the first round,
knocking him out.
And then my second fight Ifought at an Apex fight I can't
remember which UFC Apex show itwas, to be honest, but I fought
(01:17):
Johann Leinass, the only otherCanadian I'm Canadian, so the
only other Canadian on theroster at Welterweight.
I fought him.
We both had a couple ofopponents fall through, I think,
and it just ended up making themost sense like to keep us both
on the card and so I fought himand I submitted him in the
first round with an arm triangle.
And then my third fight in theUFC I fought Adam Fugit in
(01:42):
Vancouver at UFC 289.
And I submitted him with aguillotine choke and then my
last outing out.
I fought Neil Magney and waswinning that fight and had a bad
, basically last minute of youknow was winning 13 and a half
minutes of the fight and had abad, you know, last 45 seconds.
(02:03):
Made a couple inexperiencedchoices and ended up losing that
one to Neil Magney by TK.
Owing the third, the end of thethird, at UFC 297 in Toronto at
the beginning of this year,first pay-per-view card of the
year.
Aaron Pete (02:19):
So yeah, beautiful summary.
I'm going to ask you to firsttake us back to the beginning.
When did MMA become a passionof yours?
Mike Malott (02:29):
I became obsessed with MMA almost immediately
after seeing it.
I remember being probably 12years old and seeing it on TV
for the first time.
I don't remember I rememberbasically the first two fights I
ever saw.
I don't remember which one wasfirst, but I remember seeing
Nate Corey versus Lodinson Cadeand Vitor Belfort versus Marvin
(02:52):
Eastman and Nate Corey TK OdeLodinson Cade with like standing
strikes and I think the fightstill might have been on the
feet when there was a stoppageand Vitor Belfort need Marvin
Eastman in the face and gave himlike a new eyebrow over the top
.
And I just remember watchingthat fight in particular and
thinking like you can do this,tuna, like this is something you
(03:14):
can do like legally, you'reallowed to do this.
It blew me away.
I had always been interested incombat in some form or another.
It was mostly through like justbeing a little kid and loving
like cartoons and superheroesand stuff like that.
But as it got older it got intolike combat sports and martial
(03:34):
arts and it was almost like loveat first sight for me, with MMA
and UFC in particular.
I just couldn't get enough ofit.
And the internet was just kindof.
You know, viewing things on theinternet wasn't really a thing
at the time, right?
So you'd have to go toBlockbuster and buy DVDs or rent
(03:55):
DVDs in order to watch thatstuff, or you'd have to find the
one time that it was on TV youknow, be home at 9 pm on a
Saturday or whatever Like youcouldn't just go online and
watch every fight you've everwanted.
So I really like valued gettingsome access to fights.
So I remember being at like HMVand finding like a Pride video
(04:16):
set.
It was like a DVD set and itwas like five different Pride
DVDs.
I was like, oh my God, that'samazing.
Like absolutely loved Prideback in the day.
And you know, buy whatever UFCDVD I could and just try and
absorb everything I could.
I had two textbooks in highschool.
(04:37):
I had one Ken Shamrockbiography slash like move
textbook and just studiedeverything I could through that.
And then later on, through afriend that actually met, eddie
Bravo, I got an Eddie Bravo 10thPlanet textbook.
They were like I don't actuallyknow what this is, but I
thought it was cool.
I met him like, do you want?
Like I know you like MMA andJiu Jitsu, do you want this?
(04:58):
I was like, yes, please, likegive me that I want to steal as
much as I can.
So just remember, like tryingto trying to learn as much as I
could and ended up going to alocal like karate traditional
martial arts gym and they hadsome kickboxing there.
I did some kickboxing trainingand a couple of fights out of
that gym and then the guy whoran the kickboxing practices he
(05:22):
wanted to do a little bit of MMAtraining as well but didn't
have you know the experience.
He had, like you know, a BJPenn book and I had those two
textbooks and we had a judocoach for a couple months and we
just basically like tookanything we could we could and
tried to train it and drill itand just mostly rolled and
trying to figure things out.
But it was a really fun time.
Aaron Pete (05:41):
What do you think stood out to you about it?
Was it the resilience that afighter could show?
Was it the aggressiveness?
What do you think pulled you inspecifically about?
Mike Malott (05:53):
Well, I was a tiny kid.
For my age I was always likethis 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 likethe second or third smallest kid
in my year.
So I think eventually that ledto some small man syndrome a
little bit and feeling like Ihad to prove myself.
(06:14):
I think MMA stood out to me aswhat I thought strength was and
what I thought toughness was.
So I thought, man, if Imastered that, I'd be strong and
I'd be tough, I'd feel moreconfident or whatever.
I think that was partially theinitial allure of MMA.
(06:37):
Then, just through going andwanting to get stronger and
wanting to get tougher, I endedup just falling in love with the
sport and pursue it for in someways, that same reason, but
different reasons now, just morethrough my actual passion,
rather than wanting to besomeone I am not.
Aaron Pete (06:57):
There's a huge hockey culture in Canada.
Was there any temptation?
Was there anything pulling youoff this path?
Or was it always MMA?
Mike Malott (07:05):
No, it was hockey first for sure.
Pretty well every Canadian kidwants to play in the NHL.
That was the dream.
And play for the Toronto MapleLeafs that was the dream as a
kid and became pretty apparentpretty quickly that I sucked at
hockey.
I never compete at any majorlevel.
I played basically the lowestlevel of travel competitive
(07:28):
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 toomuch of a space cadet man.
I just couldn't wrap my headaround being part of a team and
being one unit.
I think I've always thrived alittle bit better when it's all
(07:49):
on me.
I do definitely have a team nowand teams in Canada and
California and a bunch offriends and training partners
throughout Canada and whatever.
At the end of the day, it allcomes down to me.
When I win it's because Iperformed and when I fall short
it's because I didn't.
I feel like that's easier forme to wrap my head around than
(08:13):
team sports in some ways.
Aaron Pete (08:15):
I definitely sympathize with that.
One of the reasons you're myfavorite fighter is when we talk
about the Walter Wight Divisionand what's going on is we look
back at your pro debut in 2011and a first-round submission
over James Saunders.
Then, six weeks later, youforfeit your own purse to fly on
another opponent in to fightyou and you gave up your own pay
(08:37):
for that fight and you pulledoff the upset.
Would you mind taking us backto those early days?
Mike Malott (08:43):
Yeah, man, those were some cool days.
I didn't know what I was doingat all.
I had my first basically actualMMA 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 acatchweight at 140.
I was like I don't know if Ican make 140.
I was supposed to fight at 145.
(09:04):
I was much smaller at the time,I was 19.
It was my pro debut.
Amateur MMA was illegal at thetime.
It might still be in NovaScotia.
If you wanted to have an MMAfight, you had to go pro.
All right, my coach runs apromotion, let's just go pro.
I'm like, guys, I don't know ifI can make 140.
And they're like oh, don'tworry, We'll teach you how We'll
(09:25):
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 inthe sauna when you can't stand
up on your own.
It was horrible, man.
I weighed in at like actually,the catch rate was 141 and we
got a one pound allowance.
(09:46):
I was like 142, carried ontothe scale type thing.
I had no idea what I was doing.
I remember I was alreadyfeeling drawn out the night
before weigh-ins and I was 157the night before.
I was like, okay, I have 16pounds to go and I've never cut
weight before.
(10:06):
I'm already drawn out and Ihaven'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.
So I ended up having that fightand I won that.
That was actually in our gym,Pelukas Boxing Club at the time.
It was an old movie theaterthat had been turned into a
(10:29):
nonprofit boxing and MMA gymSuper cool, that was awesome.
I had one and then my weightballooned back up and I just I
think I ate cake for dinner likethree nights and just like was
so bloated and wanted to help afriend, Spar, who had a fight a
couple of weeks later and Iremember him warming up,
(10:49):
touching me to the body and mebeing like, oh my God, my body
is like so swollen.
But yeah, then I had that otherfight like five or six weeks
later and that kid at the timewas so I was one and oh, he was
three and oh, and I knew who hewas.
He was like a hot prospect inCanada.
He had a few teammates thatwere doing really well.
One of them ended up going onwell, going on to be he is Misha
(11:13):
Serkanov, right.
So I ended up having a bunch offights in the UFC and being like
a high level fighter, but theyhad a few really good grapplers
from their team fight.
You know, they had a few goodfighters on their team and I
knew who this guy was and whowas wrestling coach.
I had heard a lot of hypearound him and that was another
(11:34):
like change in weight.
I was supposed to fight at 155for that fight against some guy
who was like it was just whothey could find me.
It was like two and seven orsomething.
That guy pulled out and waslike, okay, I guess I'm not
fighting.
And then the week before thefight, the promoter, who was
like a friend and trainingpartner, 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 myweight ballooned up after doing
(11:58):
that, that horrible weight cut.
So this is going to be hard, asis.
And he's like and I'm having tofly him in from Toronto and I
can't afford to fly him in andpay you, so you're not getting
paid for this one.
I was like okay, he's like well,do you want it or not?
Like are you scared?
He was like one of the likelike one of the digger guys on
the team like had a bunch offights.
I'm like no, I'm not scared.
No, I was like dude, I'm soscared.
(12:18):
But I took the fight anyway andthe guy was like the guy that I
fought was honestly a prick andlike not a good guy, but he's a
solid fighter.
He's still fighting now.
I think he's actually oncontent.
I think he actually might havelike a big fight coming up this
(12:39):
summer.
I don't know, actually, if I'mallowed to say that, but yeah,
he's still watching.
Yeah, he's still fighting anddoing well, but yeah, he was a
really good Jitsu guy and I waslike, okay, I can knock this guy
out and I had some good Jitsu.
I had a couple of things that Iwas good at at the time, like
one closed guard arm barspecifically, and like this is
you know, back when MMA was alot more basic and he ended up
(13:02):
taking me down a couple ofminutes into the first round,
but I ended up arm barring himand submitting him and it was
like a huge upset that Isubmitted this like Jitsu guy.
I think he was like a purplebelt world champion or something
like that.
And so I caught him in the armbar and just like that was the
one of the most rocky Balboamoments of my life, where I like
stood up in the ring and lookedto who I thought was my corner
(13:25):
it was actually his corner andthey looked like really somber.
And then I turned around and itwas in a ring instead of a cage
and like my coaches andteammates all jumped over the
ring and like the commission wastrying to like keep my team
back and like 30 guys jumpedover into the ring and like
picked me up and carried mearound.
It was like the fourth part ofthe night, so there's still like
four more fights, so it wasn'tlike it was even the main events
, like all these dudes in likerunning shoes, like go arm and
(13:46):
in, and people hugging eachother like oh, that was amazing.
I remember feeling like justthe man.
That night is a really coolexperience.
Aaron Pete (13:56):
It, and strength and passion are all things that
kind of under underlie yourcareer.
Where did that come from foryou?
Mike Malott (14:06):
I grew up playing a lot of sports and then,
honestly, I just have kind oflike a think of the people that
I was surrounded by like just agood, hardworking family, like
my parents are super hardworkers and we're both like
fairly athletic growing up.
That encouraged us athleticallybut we weren't like pushed
(14:26):
heavily into athletics.
I grew up playing hockey.
I felt I always felt likesports were really important to
me and I felt like I wasn't themost academic kid but as long as
I was.
You know I wanted to do betterin school but I always felt like
, okay, as long as I'm doingwell in sports, like I'm doing
(14:46):
okay.
And you know, hockey is agritty sport and being a small
kid, like trying to keep up withtheir stronger kids, like you
just kind of had to adapt or youwere going to quit.
Like you know, I remember being, I played football for one year
in grade.
I was going into grade sevenand I had to lie and tell them I
(15:09):
was 80 pounds to play footballbecause it was like it'd be
minimum 80 pounds and I was like74 or something like that.
Like I wasn't quite 80 and Iwas like, oh, I'm 80 pounds and
I don't know Nobody checked butlike, yeah, I remember just like
trying to play football andlike most of the kids on our
offensive line other than ourcenter, all those kids were over
(15:29):
200 pounds and we just liketrain wrecked the division, like
I barely played at all but likeour team was sick and I'm just
like trying to keep up withthese way bigger kids.
So I think a little bit of thegrittiness 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
(15:52):
train when you don't want to andyou're going to have to train
through injuries, like if youwait to be completely injured to
start training, like you'rebarely going to train.
Man, like you're always alittle bit injured, you're
always beat up, you're alwayssore, like that's a tough sport.
I pretty well like bought AaronJeffrey yesterday.
It's like one of the best.
(16:12):
He was fighting in the titleeliminator for Bellator in a
couple of weeks and helping himget ready.
And we just, you know,basically fought in the gym
yesterday like three, fives andlike, all right, man, that's
just like a Thursday with me.
I'm like are you just fightingone of the best guys in the
world in the gym?
We're beating the hell out ofeach other.
Like well, yeah, and now it'sFriday, go to Jiu-Jitsu and go
(16:33):
do your other stuff.
Like you have other stuff to doand whatever man, no one cares.
Aaron Pete (16:38):
One of my favorite parts is your social media,
because I love the parts thatyou put in about the grind,
about the hard work that'srequired.
I find that so admirable, andsomebody who works in an office,
somebody who's not out theregrinding on the paved stone and
working out in a gym every dayit reminds us that we need to be
grateful and that, like you'resomeone to aspire to be like, in
(17:00):
the sense of your mentaltoughness, because I hear so
much about like burnout at workand long hours and the lights
that you get, and I just findsome of that so disconnected
from the reality that somepeople are willing to push when
they have no energy.
They're willing to try harderwhen they have nothing left to
give.
They're willing to try and finda way when there's no other
opportunities left.
And I find that we, as regularpeople who don't do the work you
(17:24):
do, we need to take in thatinspiration and be reminded that
when we have a long day in theoffice, it's nothing in
comparison to what other peopleare grinding out in the real
world, and so we need toappreciate that and I think it
gives us a little bit morehumility.
But I'm just wondering anythoughts you have on people who
are doing the nine to five andthe work that goes into it and
the mental toughness you'vedeveloped.
What can we learn from the workthat you put in every day?
Mike Malott (17:47):
Well, thank you.
First I would say, of courseit's really tough and there are
some mornings when I wake up andI really don't want to do this,
you know, for a day or two orfor 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 keepingin mind that you've made a
(18:09):
commitment to yourself and likemaintaining discipline is
extremely important along ajourney Like this is the journey
I've chosen to do.
I'm going to do it until I nolonger can, or until I feel
fulfilled or whatever, like theforeseeable future.
I'm in this journey so justbecause it's Wednesday and your
(18:32):
body soar and you're tired andyou didn't sleep very well and
you don't want to go in, like itdoesn't really matter.
Like you go in on Wednesdays,you go in on Thursdays, you go
in on Fridays, like that's whatyou do.
And I think sometimes it's justlike do the first thing, just
focus on the first thing.
Like just get you know, getyour bag packed, get ready and
(18:54):
get in the car, and just like goto the gym.
And once you're at the gym,you're like well, I'm already
here, I'm going to start warmingup.
I'm already warm, I might aswell do these drills.
Right, I've already done thesedrills, I might as well go live.
Well, I'm already going to golive.
I might as well try and win.
Like, just, it's one thingafter like just just be
short-sighted at times where italmost makes it easier, rather
(19:15):
than, like you wake up firstthing in the morning and you're
like dude, how am I going tospar with like some of the
killers I have to spar with?
Like how to spar with thoseguys today?
It's like, yeah, don't evenworry about that right now, just
get in the car, turn the car on, like that's, it makes it a
little easier.
But at the same time as many ofthose moments I have, I also
have a lot of moments where I'mextremely grateful for this,
(19:38):
because I do genuinely lovedoing this.
Like, I love this sport.
It's made me into a muchstronger person than I probably
would have been had I nevergotten into the sport.
It's made me a very happyperson.
It's introduced me to some ofthe most important people in my
life and given me someabsolutely incredible moments
(20:00):
and experiences that I certainlywould never have experienced
had it not been for this sport.
So you know there aredefinitely times that you have
to grind through and, whetherthere's motivation or not, you
have to find a way to keep going.
But at the same time, I thinkit's easier to maintain
discipline when you know it'ssomething that you're passionate
(20:21):
about and it's easier to stayon that path knowing that it's
something you love.
Aaron Pete (20:27):
Would you say that your experience is somewhat
surreal?
Because I imagine, like anybodygets good at saying something,
say they're good at knitting,they're never going to do that
on a world stage in front ofpeople in that way and share
that.
And I got to watch you live inVancouver.
I got to watch Amon's a hobbylive in Vancouver and sit there
and admire the work that you'veput in, all the things that we
(20:47):
don't see as viewers.
All the grinding, all the timeswhere you fall down you get
back up, and all the times yougot up in the morning when you
wanted to stay in bed and hitthe alarm clock.
Like we get to watch you onthat performance night but so
much goes into it.
Is it ever surreal to get up onthe stage?
I remember you talking at thepre-fight press conference and
saying like you guys are in fora treat, like we're so happy to
(21:07):
be back here, and that was soinspiring because it's a
reminder that right next doorcould be somebody doing
something incredibly amazing,shocking, something you couldn't
even imagine doing that.
We have amazing people withinour country, within our
provinces.
We have aspirational peoplethat you should want to be like,
because they have a mentaltoughness that you don't always
tap into as a regular citizen.
(21:28):
So what is it like to be ableto get up on those stages and
get people excited, get peoplemotivated to start to take those
steps in their own lives?
Mike Malott (21:36):
It's pretty cool, man.
It's still definitely not loston me Sorry, I'm losing you here
a little bit, my camera'sslipping.
It's definitely still not loston me that this is special and
that this is cool.
Like getting to get up in frontof thousands of people at a
press conference and grab amicrophone would be like I'm
going to kick this guy's ass onSaturday and have a big cheer
(21:59):
and ask for a picture with youand tell you kind things and
nice things about the work thatyou put in.
It's really special to me and Idon't honestly care at all
about being a famous person.
That's not my intention in doingthis.
Conor McGregor's the man andthe sport wouldn't be the same
(22:20):
without him.
But I have a zero interest inbeing like a mega superstar like
that.
I do love getting the respectand admiration for hard work I
put in.
Like that does feel good, youknow as much as it's like I
don't worry about people'sopinions.
(22:41):
Like when I get messages frompeople telling me like man,
you're doing a great job.
Like I believe in you, I likewhat you're doing.
Like that makes me feel amazing.
Or if somebody stops me andasks 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 justmoved to a new town, so I've had
a few times where people arelike, dude, you live around here
, like what I had no idea.
(23:02):
I'm like, yeah, I just movedout to this area so that that
that feels really cool, likeit's.
It's, it's nice to be able to,to touch people's lives that you
don't know because of somethingthat you're passionate about,
and like I do put so much workinto this.
So to feel it pay off in thatway that it kind of does inspire
(23:23):
others at times, that makes mefeel really good.
Aaron Pete (23:27):
It's so amazing to be able to sit down with you,
because I think back at thatVancouver moment and you, like,
have a snapshot in my mind ofthe moment that you won, when
Amon won.
Like you always, you play aspecial role in people's lives
that they'll carry into thefuture and I imagine you have
similar memories that you couldcompare it to with GSP and I'm
wondering if you'd be able totalk about that, because when
(23:48):
you say you don't want to beConnor McGregor the kind of
perfect person that's famous butnot crazy famous, not not
overwhelmingly where it's likeuncomfortable to live is GSP.
He's respected, he's admired,he's looked up to by people more
than he's chased by paparazzi Iwould say.
I'm sure you get some of that,but like he's got more of the
respect from people than thedrama, I would say.
Mike Malott (24:09):
Yeah, yeah, some moments like that in my mind
watching fights as a kid is.
You know, saw him fight liveonce 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 feellike that close.
So most of those moments arefrom watching on TV.
(24:31):
But I remember him finallywinning that belt, the rematch
with Matt Hughes, when he likefaked low and went high and Matt
Hughes went to catch the kickand he got kicked in the side of
the head and George St Pierregot on top and landed some
punches and elbows from closeguard and the ref jumped in and
normally you'd see George StPierre do this like backflip and
be all excited and you couldjust see the like melting of
(24:53):
emotions, like it finallyhappened, like everything I put,
everything I've been puttinginto the sport, came to fruition
.
You saw him just like crumblein front of everyone, like drop
to his knees, like and it wassuch a raw emotional moment that
that was incredibly powerful tosee, as well as the rematch
(25:13):
with Matt Sarah.
So he lost his belt and then hefought Josh Koshik, I believe
and then came back and fought.
He might have come back andfought Matt Hughes a third time
before then I think.
Actually I think I think he wassupposed to fight Matt Sarah
and then Sarah pulled out and hefought Hughes for the interim
belt or something like that.
But then, yeah, when he foughtSarah and got that one back, the
(25:36):
like knees to the body inMontreal and just walking off
from that like I'm a huge MattSarah fan too, he's the man.
But George is our guy man.
He's like he's been carryingthe flag for he's been carrying
the flag for Canada for like 20years, almost man.
So that was pretty incrediblegetting to watch him regain his
title and go on that absolute,absolutely legendary tear, just
(26:02):
like running through thedivision and lapping the
division.
He's, you know, he's definitelylike the guy for me.
Aaron Pete (26:09):
Beautiful.
We all have moments where wefall down, where we don't get
the job, where we don't get thepromotion, where we don't have
the door opened, and I do thinkthat art imitates life and mixed
martial arts is absolutely anart form.
I'm wondering if you can shareyour reflections on your last
fight and what people can takeaway from that in their own
(26:29):
lives, who may have been knockeddown, who are trying to find a
way to get back up and torebuild themselves.
Mike Malott (26:36):
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 Ican do everything I can to be
successful and to fix themistakes that occurred last time
.
So you look for, like, whatwent wrong when?
What can I fix what?
You know, you almost want toreinvent the wheel, as like the
(26:58):
first instinct, right, and I'mlike, look, man, we're going to
completely reinvent the wheel.
There are things that need tobe altered and I've spent the
last month kind of dissectingwhat we do, where I think I fell
short and how I can grow fromthat.
Went down to the UFCPerformance Institute and had
(27:19):
some testing done, get a littlemore information about what my
body needs to perform and to beat the highest level.
So I have some new things thatI wasn't doing before.
So we're already adding thosein.
So that's already going to belike number one, a whole sealed
from last time, but also like itwas.
(27:40):
It was.
I'm not completely upset withthe performance, right, like I
thought the fight was going welluntil it didn't.
There's a little bit ofinexperience that that cost me
in that fight.
You know I went into that fightwith like 14 minutes of UFC
cage time and Neil Magni went inwith almost seven hours of UFC
cage time, right, so there was amassive disparity as far as
(28:05):
experience is concerned.
So I've been looking into waysand found some ways that I can
close that gap with guys thatare more experienced with me.
I now, even though lost in thethird round, feel a lot more
comfortable with the idea ofgoing later into fights.
You know that was unchartedterritory for me and while it
(28:26):
didn't turn out the way that Iwanted it to, I'm very confident
that next time it'll turn out alot better and I'm more
confident going into those laterrounds now, especially now that
we've started working onsealing those holes that were
obviously there last time.
I think also just not being somarried to a result like I oddly
(28:54):
I oddly didn't feel I thoughtI'd feel more torn apart from a
loss, to be honest, and asdevastated as I was that I
didn't get the results I wanted.
I'm very proud of the work thatI've put in.
I'm very proud of how far I'vecome and I'm very proud of my
team and how much work we've putin and how we've gotten to this
(29:15):
point.
You know I didn't just get tothis point just to get to this
point.
I plan on going a lot furtherthan I am right now, but I think
there are a lot of positives totake away from this fight and a
lot of things to be reallyhappy about, and there are some
things to fix.
So we're focused on the thingsthat we should be proud about or
focused on the things that weneed to fix, and it's just
(29:38):
getting back on the horse.
Man, like sometimes, mma is acrazy sport.
Sometimes it goes a little bit,it gets a little bit weird,
goes off the rails a little morethan you expect.
It's a wild sport, man.
That's about, as you know, aminute and a half remaining in
that fight.
That's about as sure as you canbe that a guy's about to win a
fight and I ended up not winningthat one.
(30:02):
But yeah, I don't even rememberwhat the initial question was,
but I'm really just genuinelyexcited to get back on the horse
, back on the grind, get back inthe gym.
Like I said, I'm helping my boy,aaron Jeffrey, get ready for
his.
You know he's fighting thenumber one contender in the
(30:23):
world in Bellator, basically atitle eliminator.
He wins this fight, he's almostguaranteed a title fight in
Bellator.
He's, you know already, one ofthe 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 beenand I'm like getting back into
training this week and going towar with this guy Like I don't
even see, but like my face isall dinged up from us just
(30:46):
scrapping, and like I'm excitedto do it.
It's like it feels rejuvenatingto get back in there and have
new things to focus on.
Where I'm not like you knoweverything was almost going so
well.
Where I'm like okay, what's thething that?
I don't know I need to improve.
And you know, when you loseit's like, dude, there's some,
there's some pretty clear thingsthat you need to improve on.
(31:08):
So I'm really excited to runheadfirst into these, these new
styles of training that we'regoing to be adding in, these new
drills, these new sessions, butalso recognizing like it's, you
know, don't reinvent the wheelMost of the stuff we were doing
obviously worked.
I was winning the fight.
I was up two rounds, two and ahalf rounds, and so it's like a
(31:30):
bittersweet thing.
Where it's like I think youwatch that fight and in my mind
when I watch it I'm clearly oneof the best guys in the world.
I was getting the better of aguy who's a super crafty veteran
and who's fought the best guysin the world and it's pretty
hard to do that to him.
But so you know, I'm not toodown on myself, like I don't
(31:54):
feel, I don't feel dejected, Idon'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 excitedabout what's going to happen
next.
At first I was thrown off by theamount of unbelievable hate I
(32:18):
was getting for that fight, forthat 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 taggedin was just like you suck, you
know you need to retire, you'rea piece of shit.
Blah, blah, blah, dude.
The amount of just hate thatcame my way.
I'm like man, some people arejust like so excited to watch
(32:39):
somebody fall.
So I thought that was at first.
It was.
It was like I wasn't preparedfor that.
It was like getting to me forfor a few days, once I started
being able to get back into thegym and like exercise again and
start working and start movingin the right direction, I was
like, oh, okay, now, if anything, I almost view it as like,
because 80, like 80, 90% ofthese accounts that like on
(33:02):
Instagram, that like commentthat stuff on you, it's like no
picture or just like somepicture of like a famous person
or someone that isn't them andit's like zero posts, eight
followers follows, 2000 people.
It's like, oh, you're just aburner.
Like all you do is you're justlike not happy with yourself and
you see somebody else fail andit's probably what you're saying
(33:25):
is more of like a reflection ofyourself, and you see that in
someone who's successful and, ifanything, that probably brings
you closer to someone who'shaving success, which is pretty
sad man Like when you thinkabout it like.
So I do kind of pity thosepeople where it's like man, you
know you can turn this aroundfor yourself too.
You don't need to, you don'tneed to be like that, like that,
(33:46):
that I'm almost like it's.
It sounds disingenuous and likecorny to be like.
Oh, I feel bad for those people.
Like they're just losers, likeI don't mean it in like a mean
way.
I'm like dude.
Like if that's genuinely theonly way you can feel good about
yourself is to be like someonesuccessful also failed, and I
feel like a failure and this islike the only connection I have
with them so I'm going to dog onthem for that Cause.
(34:07):
Really like, I don't like thatabout myself.
I'm like man, like that'sreally, that's really sad man
Like you don't need to be likethat, not for me.
Like at this point I feel a lotbetter about it where I don't
feel like when I see thosethings, it's not, like it
doesn't really bother me anymore.
Like when I see it, I'm not likewhen, when I really sit down
and think about it, I'm like,man, that really really sucks.
(34:29):
Man, like there's a lot ofopportunity in life, man,
there's a lot of abundance inlife.
Like I know I'm a blessedperson, I know I have, like, my
health, and I have things thatother people don't don't have.
You know, not everyone'sblessed with health and
everyone's blessed with the sameopportunities or whatever, but
like you can always improve yoursituation, man.
Like if that's really all youhave is to like dump on people
(34:54):
and that's what makes you feelgood, it's like, dude, that
really is sad.
Like I do feel genuinely badfor you.
So those people, I hope, man,you find a way to turn things
around for yourself, becausethat's too bad.
Man, life's good and you canalways be better.
Aaron Pete (35:09):
Agreed.
A few more quick questions.
One is around the same topic.
I'm just when you.
When the night happened and youdidn't win, I wanted to type up
a response, and so I'm hopingyou can help me figure out how
to be like a good friend If Icontinue to interview UFC
fighters.
I'm just interested in yourperspective.
It seems like it would be itcame across the wrong way in my
(35:31):
head to say like, oh, you weredestroying him and like you had
that fight, like that wouldn'tfeel good to hear, because then
you're like well, but I didn'tget the result that I wanted,
and then on the other hand, I'mlike you'll get him next time.
That still felt like not hittingthe note.
How did you find people kind ofapproached you afterwards and
in your mind, what's the bestway to approach someone when
they do fall down?
Mike Malott (35:52):
That's a great question and if you find the
right answer for that, I'd loveto hear it.
One of the best exchanges I hadwith somebody after the fight
is one of my MMA Canadian idols.
Mark Hominick came up to me inthe hotel room after the fight
and he just was like he gave mea big hug and they just like put
his hand on my shoulder andhe's like, ah man, and I'm like
(36:17):
I know, like I know, like Idon't know what to say either,
like I don't know what to do.
You know, I kind of I'd like tolaugh because I've been around
you know, I was at Alph Mill fora long time, so I've been
around so many high levelfighters that have big
opportunities and have had winsand won those, and I've been
around guys where they've lostthese opportunities and it's
like what do you say, man?
And we kind of like bothlaughed about it.
(36:39):
You know, I still even had likemy shorts and my cup on.
I've got into the hotel lobby,I hadn't gotten changed yet and
it was just this like superauthentic moment of just like
him being like like we were justkind of started laughing.
I'm like, dude, I don't knowwhat to say either, man, I
(37:00):
appreciate it though I can feelyour energy, but yeah, man, I
don't know what the right thingis.
You know, when guys I've beenaround have lost, I just let
them know I'm there for them, Ilove them and I care about them,
I'm proud of them, regardlessof the outcome.
And that's honestly been one ofthe like biggest blessings from
the losses.
(37:20):
Like everything's great whenyou're winning.
You know People want to be yourfriend, who's there with you,
who's riding with you, and youknow who texts you back and
stuff when you're winning.
And like when you lose, youhear people talk about how you
know I think it was Miguel Cottocould be wrong, but I think it
was Miguel Cotto, the boxer he'ssaying, like you win a fight
(37:41):
and you get 10,000 texts andcalls by the time you get back
to your phone and you lose afight and you have four missed
calls and three of them are fromyour mom.
And I didn't really have thatexperience.
You know, I definitely got alot of like hate on social media
and stuff like that, a lot ofnegative energy, but I got an
insane amount of positive energy.
I had probably just almost asmany messages after my losses I
(38:05):
did after my wins and it was alot of positivity from people, a
lot of encouragement, a lot ofsupport, a lot of people
reassuring me and telling methey're behind me.
And then the coming weeks afterthat continued, but even more so
on a personal level, like theamount my family and my coaches
(38:26):
were there for me after my fight, just like my mental coach, my
Muay Thai coach, my Dujutsucoach.
All these guys like call meback and called me every day to
check in on me.
And we're like setting upappointments for me.
And my massage therapist too,one of my physiotherapists like
my sister is one of them, butgot another couple that are my
(38:47):
physiomassage therapists andjust gave me so much support,
leaving it like, do you needanything?
Can we set anything up for you?
Like I can come to you.
Like when my physiomassagetherapist, chiropractor he Chris
, he came to my house like, hey,man, like let me work on your
neck.
He probably had a lot of stressfrom that that might be causing
(39:08):
some symptoms for you and justhaving bad amount of love and
care from people who I'm closeto.
And we're just like, all right,it's all cool when you win, but
really being there when thingsdon't go well.
That's when it really matters.
So to see that support fromthose guys was really cool and I
(39:28):
guess, kind of to bring it backto your question, it's awesome
to congratulate somebody whenthey win and send them a man,
great job, whatever.
But I think, like almostregardless of what you say,
unless you're just like tellingsomebody what they should have
done, that's like the mostannoying like.
I roll like, yeah, no shit, likethanks, but just like even
being there and sending somebodya message after they lose, I
(39:50):
think is so much more importantthan sending someone a message
after they win.
Like sometimes I probably doforget to send my friends
messages after they win.
I see them on Instagram andlike a post like hell yeah, my
buddy won.
But like I almost never forgetto send somebody a message after
I see them lose, just because Ithink it's so much more
important to be there forsomeone that you care about and
(40:11):
just like even just a littlereminder like hey, man, I know
you're putting a lot of work.
I know this is upsetting, butresults don't define you.
Your character does it.
I love you, appreciate you, I'mhere for you if you need to
talk or call like just somethingsimple like that, just to kind
of be there for that personafter a loss.
(40:34):
I think is a lot more important, beautiful.
Aaron Pete (40:38):
Do you have any advice for others who fall down?
Mike Malott (40:42):
Yeah, man, we all fall down.
Just get up, and you know, dustyourself up, keep going.
But like, reevaluate, right?
Like you know, it's theEinstein quote, or whatever like
the definition of insanity isdoing something, failing and
doing it the exact same wayagain and expecting a different
result, right?
So you know you should fail.
(41:04):
You should fail at life.
You know there are times where,like you know, even guys who are
undefeated it's like they'renot.
They haven't gotten throughthis without defeat.
At some points they're justreally good at figuring out what
they've done wrong in the pastand growing from that and making
the necessary adjustments.
So, just, you know, get up,dust yourself off, realize why
(41:26):
you fell, make the adjustmentsnecessary to not fall when it
matters and maybe that meansfalling every day, you know,
maybe that means facing thosethings every day and getting
used to those things to ensurethat you don't fall when the
time matters in the future.
But yeah, man, and don't like,put so much pressure on yourself
(41:47):
.
Man, life's fun, enjoy yourself, work hard, work your ass off,
pour yourself into what you loveand enjoy it, but don't be so
focused on the result.
Aaron Pete (42:00):
Man, this is so motivational.
The comeback king is coming.
I'm wondering if you can leavea message, not for your
supporters, but for the haters.
What would you say to thepeople who are messaging you
these terrible, terrible things?
It sounds like you're on therise again and you're coming
back soon and we need to rubtheir faces in it.
Mike Malott (42:18):
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 atall.
Like it's a much more selfishjourney, I guess.
Like it's for me, you know, I'mdoing this for me.
I'm not doing this for them.
I'm gonna give a shit withthose people, like you know.
(42:40):
Like I'm doing this a lot morefor me.
I love this.
Like I'd write way, rather, I'mway more doing this for that kid
who like stopped me, you know,stops me outside the grocery
store and is like dude I've seenyou fight like that sick, like
dude, you know gets all excitedand ask me for a picture.
Like dude, I spend the rest ofmy day thinking about that.
Like that makes me happy man, Iget like way more out of that.
(43:00):
And like representing thepeople I care about and like
doing right by my community andmy country and my people and my
circle than like the people thatI'm trying to prove wrong.
Like I'll do.
Respect, fuck them.
Like you know.
Actually no due respect, youknow.
Whatever, fuck you.
Aaron Pete (43:15):
Like you know like I'm here.
Mike Malott (43:16):
Like you know I'm here to back my people and
people who support me.
You know, like the happy dadboys and the elk boys, all my
gyms, my team, my trainingpartners, my you know in Canada
and California and Halifax.
You know, like all these peoplewho've supported me along the
way, like I'm doing this forthem, not for the people that
doubt me, I don't care, there'salways going to be doubters but
(43:39):
like I'm here for the peoplethat ride with me, you know.
Aaron Pete (43:41):
That's the best answer.
The name of this podcast isbigger than me, because it's all
about the mindset of trying tolift others up and inspire
others to follow in thoseamazing footsteps.
How can people follow alongwith your journey and the
amazing work you're doing?
Mike Malott (43:54):
Thank you, man.
Just yeah, most of my stuff ison my Instagram, michaelmallot.
I don't have a next fightplanned or booked or, you know,
really in negotiations oranything, but trust that I'm
making the necessary adjustmentsto grow from last time and
you're going to see a muchbetter version of me moving
forward.
I'm going to grow from this andbecome a much better fighter,
(44:18):
like I'll be a better version ofme than I ever could have had I
not lost this fight.
Like this will end up being thebiggest blessing of my career.
So just enjoy the journey,enjoy the show and pity who's
next.
Aaron Pete (44:33):
My favorite is inspirational quotes from
individuals like yourself.
The philosophy that goes inbehind it is so important.
I highly recommend people gofollow you on Instagram, because
that's the fuel when you'rehaving a tough day at work.
When you're not having a goodday, you know somebody else is
out there grinding three timesas hard as you are trying to
move forward.
So thank you so much for beingwilling to share the time and
(44:53):
such amazing insights.
I appreciate you so much, mike.
Mike Malott (44:57):
Thanks for having me on there and appreciate it.
Largeth reflexologycom.
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