UFC Vancouver: Mike Malott defends low blows on Kevin Holland
Mike Malott discusses his repeated low blows to Kevin Holland in their UFC Fight Night 262 co-main event.
VANCOUVER – Mike Malott scored the biggest win of his career Saturday, but it came with controversy.
Malott (13-2-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) secured a unanimous decision win over Kevin Holland (28-15 MMA, 15-12 UFC) in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 262. On paper, it was a big achievement for Malott, but many fans were critical of how things went down.
In Round 1, Malott connected with an illegal groin shot on Holland that stopped the fight for almost a minute. The fight resumed. Holland chose to continue fighting, and Malott was given a warning by referee Dan Miragliotta. Just moments later, Malott connected with another groin shot while controlling Holland against the cage. This time, the blow had more impact.
“Honestly, I was just focused on the fight,” Malott said at the UFC Fight Night 262 post-fight press conference when asked about the lengthy pause of his fight after the groin strike. “Keep moving around a little bit, don’t get too cold, don’t get too hyped and frustrated over stuff you can’t control. I know we both threw kicks at the same time and one of mine went low first. The second one, my knee hit him in the hip. My shin, I think, brushed his cup, but I have to watch it back.
“Maybe I’m crazy, but my knee hit him in the hip, right above the belt line. He’s just so tall – the dude is all limbs. His hips are so high, it’s hard to get that knee up. I’m sure my shin did hit him in the groin. I bet it hurt. I don’t think he was being dramatic. I’m sure it was bugging him. But yeah, a bit of an odd one – but that happened. You can’t control it, and there are 10 straight minutes, so we have to get into it, reset and focus.”
Holland took the five minutes allocated to recover from an illegal strike. Although he chose to continue fighting, he was visibly impaired for the remaining of the round, and that continued on through the fight. Not only did he have difficulty stepping into Round 2, and there was a longer than usual break in between rounds with Holland being in pain, but he also took little breaks mid-fight.
“Again, he’s a chaotic guy,” Malott said. “Is he doing that, so I rush in and do something stupid, and he’ll rip a right hand and try to knock me out? Or is he playing possum? Or can he just not continue? I don’t know. Maybe I should’ve gotten on him a little more. But whatever, man. Hindsight is 20/20.”
In the end, the fight went the full distance, with Malott winning a 29-28 unanimous decision. Some arugue the fight should’ve ended in a draw with Malott getting a point deduction for the two groin shots. Either way, Malott secured a win over a top-15 opponent, and that’s all he had set out to do.
“This has been a dream of mine for a long time, and this is the first step,” Malott said. “I’m at the bottom of the ladder now, but that’s how you start the climb. You have to get on first.”
