{"id":618207,"date":"2026-04-20T01:29:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T01:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/618207\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T01:29:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T01:29:08","slug":"mike-malott-speaks-after-exciting-ko-victory-april-18th","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/618207\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Malott Speaks After Exciting KO Victory April 18th"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mike Malott<\/a> (14-2-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) became part of an exclusive club over the weekend. Ahead of Saturday night\u2019s UFC Winnipeg inside Canada Life Centre, there had only been two Canadian contestants to have headlined a UFC event in their home country. By night\u2019s end, Malott would become the third Canadian to main event a UFC show in Canada.<\/p>\n

Malott\u2019s adversary, Gilbert Burns<\/a> (22-10 MMA, 15-10 UFC) was heading into hostile territory for the UFC Winnipeg main event with the partisan crowd firmly against him. If Mike Malott was to give his countrymen a bout they\u2019d never forget, he\u2019d need to bring out the fireworks.<\/p>\n

Although the UFC Winnipeg main event was slated for an advertised five rounds at five minutes per round to close the evening\u2019s activities in Manitoba, Malott needed less than two and a half rounds to complete his assignment in satisfactory fashion. Midway through the third round of action, he uncorked a vicious right hook,<\/a> peppering Gilbert Burns with ground and pound. Referee Herb Dean waved off the contest shortly thereafter.<\/p>\n

Swan Song for Mike Malott\u2019s Opponent, Gilbert Burns<\/p>\n

After the official decision was announced by Joe Martinez inside the fabled Octagon, Gilbert Burns used his post-fight interview with Paul Felder to inform those watching in the arena and on Paramount Plus that Saturday\u2019s contest was to be his last as a professional MMA fighter,<\/a> exiting the sport on a five-fight losing streak. Before officially revealing his retirement, he acknowledged the hardships of this past training camp.<\/p>\n

\u201cI put in a great camp,\u201d Burns said. \u201cI sacrificed so much. My coach [knows] I left no stone unturned. Harry [Hooft] knows, Daniel knows, all my guys at Kill Cliff [FC,] I worked very hard but I couldn\u2019t show it. Shout out to Mike Malott and his team. You guys did a great job.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s it,\u201d he continued. \u201cI think I had a great career. I fought so hard. I want to win so bad, but, yeah, I think that\u2019s it.\u201d Burns\u2019 retirement announcement was met with applause from the audience and Paul Felder.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Mike Malott on Emotional Reaction to Victory in UFC Winnipeg<\/p>\n

In the aftermath of Malott\u2019s knockout win on Saturday night, he was overcome with joy. Upon taking the podium backstage for the post-fight press conference, he discussed why he reacted the way he did.<\/p>\n

\u201cI pour so much of myself into the preparation in this sport and it\u2019s been a long journey for me,\u201d he said. \u201cIt feels great getting that release after fighting a tough guy. Yeah, just time to let it all out after a fight and feel all the feelings.\u201d<\/p>\n

By the time the show wrapped up, 14,051 spectators paid to see UFC Winnipeg on Saturday night. Mike Malott talked about what it was like to have a partisan audience urging him on in the main event over the weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been so blessed fighting in the UFC in general, but especially in Canada,\u201d he said, \u201cthe fans always show up for me and let me know that they enjoy what I do. These moments will be cherished by me for the rest of my life. I\u2019m going to look back as an old man one day with a lot of really cool memories.\u201d<\/p>\n

Final Thoughts on Gilbert Burns\u2019 Retirement and Mike Malott\u2019s Victory<\/p>\n

Simply put, Saturday night\u2019s UFC Winnipeg main event was a changing of the guard in the welterweight ranks, one that the entire world was witness to. On one side of the pairing, you had Gilbert Burns, a man who was seriously contemplating retirement after a fight at the Meta Apex<\/a> resulted in a concussion last May.<\/p>\n

Whether fans know the retirement of a fighter is coming or not, it\u2019s always an emotional moment to see a veteran contender take off the gloves and leave them in the middle of the Octagon at the end of a fight. Burns knew his time in the UFC was short and he wrapped up his career in defeat, though he fought valiantly over the weekend.<\/p>\n

In regard to the victorious Mike Malott, this fight was a resume-building contest on Saturday. He\u2019s now won four bouts consecutively and with this latest victory coming against a ranked adversary, he himself could find his name in the rankings at 170 very shortly.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mike Malott (14-2-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) became part of an exclusive club over the weekend. Ahead of Saturday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":618208,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-618207","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-mma","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=618207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/618208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=618207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=618207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=618207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}