VANCOUVER – Mike Malott is fully expecting Kevin Holland to talk to him inside the cage.
Malott (12-2-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) takes on Holland (28-14 MMA, 15-11 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 262 (ESPN+) co-main event at Rogers Arena. The name “Big Mouth” was coined for Holland for his constant trash talk while he’s fighting his opponents, so Malott got his training partners and mental coach to do the same during fight simulations in camp.
“The times they got me to crack were when other people didn’t know that we were doing that, and they started laughing,” Malott told MMA Junkie and other reporters at Wednesday’s media day. “‘What the hell are you doing? Why are you calling him that?’ They were like, ‘Oh, no we’re doing this for – my opponent’s going to talk trash.’ They’re like, Oh, yeah, definitely good call. He’s definitely going to do that.’ Those are the times that it was funny.”
Since fumbling his big opportunity against Neil Magny, Malott has scored back-to-back wins over Trevin Giles and Charles Radtke.
“I wasn’t sure what I was going to get next,” Malott said. “Whether it was like another unranked guy who was close to the rankings, if I kind of have to fight one more of those before I get a ranked opponent or someone (No.) 12-15. I was happy to get the opportunity to fight for a ranked position.”
