Mike Malott is looking to make a statement at UFC Edmonton.
Malott is set to headline UFC Edmonton on Saturday against Joaquin Buckley. Heading into the fight, the Canadian is a -125 favorite, while the American is a slight -105 underdog on FanDuel. Malott enters the fight riding a four-fight winning streak. He’s coming off a TKO win over Gilbert Burns, for the biggest win of his career.
Although Malott is on a nice winning streak, he does know Buckley poses a lot of challenges to him. However, the Canadian enters another main event spot with plenty of confidence.
“I think he’s very clearly one of the best guys in the world,” Malott said to UFC.com. “He’s a gamer; solid athlete. He’s a fighter —he doesn’t seem like a guy that is gonna roll over easily, and he’s beaten a bunch of the best guys in the world, had tough fights with a lot of the other best guys in the world; super-skilled opponent, I’d just rather be me going into this one.”
Mike Malott sends warning to Joaquin Buckley
As Mike Malott said, he would rather be himself in the fight, as he has full confidence in his tools.
Malott knows he can keep it striking, but also can grapple if needed, which makes him so dangerous. With that, Malott believes he is a difficult matchup for not just Buckely, but for everyone in the division.
“I like my skill set, I like the hard work I’ve put in, I know what I bring to the table,” Malott added. “I’m a tough fight for anybody in the world at 170, man. Everything is falling into place at the right time.
“A win here should plant me pretty comfortably in the top 10. I’ve had two wins over top 15 opponents already, and this one should put me comfortably in the top 10, and I don’t want to look past that too much right now. Of course, in the back of my mind, there is one very clear big goal for my career, and that puts me closer to that goal. But for right now, I’m just focused on having the best performance of my career to date. And based on how everything has been going through this training camp and in this preparation, I’m just so confident that I’m gonna have the best performance of my career.”
If Malott does win and have the best performance of his career, he could very well be closing in on a title shot.
Do you think Mike Malott will beat Joaquin Buckley at UFC Edmonton?
This article appeared first on BJPENN.COM
