Mike Malott doesn’t care about Kevin Holland’s ramblings.
This Saturday, Malott will face Holland in the co-main event of UFC Vancouver. This is the Canadian’s second shot at breaking into the top 15 welterweight division, and he’s taking this opportunity with open arms.
“I was happy to have the opportunity to fight for a position in the ranks,” Marott told reporters at UFC Vancouver’s media day. “…I feel pretty prepared for my second run in this ranking. I’m way ahead of where I was a few years ago. I feel like my skills have improved a lot since then and I’ve grown as a fighter. I feel much more comfortable being here. It’s not like, ‘Oh, this is the UFC!’
Marotte had a chance to break into the welterweight rankings for the first time last year when he faced Neil Magny at UFC 297 in Toronto, but Magny pulled off an incredible last-minute comeback to hand the Canadian his first loss in the UFC. Since then, ‘Proper’ has picked up two more wins in the division, earning him a chance to crack the top 15 again, and his opponents couldn’t have been more different.
A mainstay in the UFC’s welterweight division for more than a decade, Magny is a relatively quiet and polite fighter. In contrast, Holland was nicknamed “Big Mouth” by UFC CEO Dana White due to his habit of badmouthing his opponents not only before but also during the fight. With that in mind, Marott did his best to prepare for the Dutch psychological game on Saturday.
“The last guy I fought, Charles Radtke, was talking a lot of trash before the fight, but once we got into the fight, there wasn’t that much,” Marotte said. “I don’t know if (Kevin Holland) has ever talked trash before, but I think he’s going to talk a lot of trash when we’re out there. We’ve been preparing for that with our training partners. Just talking trash in camp, in practice, in sparring. We’re getting yelled at by mental coaches cageside during sparring, during match simulations, etc. So I feel very prepared and comfortable handling it.”
In fact, Holland had been talking a little bit badly beforehand. He called Marotte a “great fighter” (h/t MMA Junkie), but said he mistook Marotte for fellow welterweight Jake Matthews in agreeing to the fight, and asserted that Marotte is nowhere near the level of competition he has historically lost to. But Marotte isn’t concerned about that.
“The other thing I heard was that he didn’t know he was fighting me, so I wonder how he knows my skill level if that’s the case,” Marott said. “But yeah, I don’t care what he says. The reason I’m confident going into this fight is because of the preparation I’ve been doing and the skill I bring to the Octagon and everything I’ve put in over the last few months. This camp has gone really well. I’m ready. I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in. So no matter what anyone says, it’s not going to change what I’ve been preparing for.”
UFC Vancouver takes place this Saturday at Rogers Arena, with the card headlined by a middleweight bout between Reinier de Ridder and Brendan Allen.