{"id":41091,"date":"2026-10-16T05:41:54","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T05:41:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/Mike-Malott-was-told-hed-never-make-the-UFC-now-hes-headlining-203247"},"modified":"2026-10-16T05:41:54","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T05:41:54","slug":"mike-malott-was-told-hed-never-make-the-ufc-now-hes-headlining","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/mike-malott-was-told-hed-never-make-the-ufc-now-hes-headlining\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Malott was told he’d never make the UFC; now he’s headlining"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n

Mike
\nMalott<\/a> has reflected on his career ahead of his
\nUltimate Fighting Championship<\/a> main event against Joaquin
\nBuckley<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Malott recalled repeatedly being told while growing up that
\nbecoming a UFC fighter was an unrealistic dream. Ahead of
\nUFC Edmonton<\/a>, he says the headlining opportunity serves as a
\nreminder of how far he has come.<\/p>\n

\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Mike Malott reflects on childhood doubts ahead of Joaquin
\nBuckley fight at UFC Edmonton<\/h2>\n

Malott headlined a UFC event for the first time earlier this year,
\ndefeating Gilbert
\nBurns<\/a> at
\nUFC Winnipeg<\/a> in April. He is set for his second headliner,
\nfacing Buckley at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, on Oct.
\n17.<\/p>\n

He recalled being smaller than most of his peers and facing
\nskepticism when he spoke about his UFC ambitions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s probably kind of odd for people who knew me growing up to see
\nthis,\u201d Malott said in a pre-fight interview. \u201cI was kind of the
\nrunt of my year as, you know, smaller than like almost every other
\nkid growing up. \u2018You go to a private school; you’re not going to be
\na UFC fighter. It’s not happening.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Malott says gratitude helps him appreciate the opportunities that
\ncome with competing at the highest level of mixed martial arts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn’t guaranteed for anyone,\u201d Malott added. \u201cThis was never
\nguaranteed for me. This isn’t gifted to me. So, gratitude is a huge
\npart of my process and just staying present.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

\u201cThis is not guaranteed for anyone.\u201d
\nMike
\nMalott<\/a> (@Michael_Malott) is filled with gratitude as he
\nprepares to headline his second consecutive fight night in Canada.
\n#UFCEdmonton Fight by Fight Preview \u27a1\ufe0f: https:\/\/t.co\/0S6hTRJj7u
\nhttps:\/\/t.co\/7cXpczbBGY<\/p>\n

\u2014 UFC News (@UFCNews)
\nOctober 15, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/center> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mike Malott has reflected on his career ahead of his Ultimate Fighting Championship main event against Joaquin Buckley. Malott recalled repeatedly being told while growing up that becoming a UFC fighter was an unrealistic dream. Ahead of UFC Edmonton, he says the headlining opportunity serves as a reminder of how far he has come. Advertisement […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41092,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-martial-arts-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}