Mike Malott Headlines Edmonton Again — Riding a Four-Fight Streak

Mike Malott steps into the cage at Rogers Place this weekend for his second straight main event, headlining UFC Edmonton opposite tenth-ranked welterweight Joaquin Buckley. It marks the Waterdown, Ontario native's 10th appearance under the UFC banner — and he counts the Contender Series bout that got him here, a win he's quick to point out happened a full five years ago.

The Canadian rides a four-fight win streak into the booking, the most recent of which was a third-round TKO of veteran Gilbert Burns back in April in Winnipeg. Burns (22-10) had been skidding, but he's a former title challenger with nine career submissions, and Malott said tearing through a fighter of that pedigree felt exactly the way he'd hoped it would.

The Everyman Angle

Malott, who sits inside the welterweight top 15, didn't take the usual fast track. He grinded through a thin Canadian regional scene, stepped away from competing for several years to coach and sharpen his grappling, then came back to chase a dream he'd carried since he was a 13- or 14-year-old obsessed with the UFC. That slow burn is part of the appeal — he comes across as a guy who knows exactly how unlikely all of this is.

He's leaned into that gratitude publicly. Malott said recently that almost nobody gets to actually live this out, and he's wary of letting the sport become routine — his analogy being that the first bite of food when you're starving tastes incredible, but it fades once eating becomes a given. For him, looking back at how far he's come matters as much as looking ahead.

A Gym Takes Over

Malott isn't making the trip west alone. Niagara Top Team's Jasmine Jasudavicius, the #7 women's flyweight at 15-4, draws Erin Blanchfield on the card, while unbeaten bantamweight Cody Chovancek (9-0) faces SuYoung You. Canadian veteran Kyle Nelson, who trains alongside Malott in Stoney Creek, rounds out the contingent. Malott said having multiple teammates prepping for the same card changes the energy at the gym entirely.

The stylistic matchup is a live one. Buckley (21-8) carries serious finishing power — 15 of his wins come by knockout — but he's coming off a unanimous-decision loss to Sean Brady and needs a statement. For Malott, beating a ranked name in front of a home crowd would do more than extend the streak; it'd push the Canadian welterweight picture firmly in his direction.