EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – When Mike Malott enters the octagon for his welterweight UFC fight against Kevin Holland on Saturday night, his biggest fan won’t be there at Vancouver’s Rogers Arena to cheer him on.
Two years ago, wearing a bright red Team Canada hockey jersey, Jeff Malott went berserk in that same building as he watched his older brother take down Adam Fugitt with a second-round submission at UFC 289. This time, the younger Malott will be busy.
As Mike’s bout against Holland begins, Jeff figures to be back in the lineup for the Los Angeles Kings as they host the Carolina Hurricanes. It’s a place he has been since opening night of the NHL season after parlaying a terrific training camp into a roster spot normally occupied by veteran Corey Perry, who is recovering from knee surgery. But the 29-year-old winger is already awaiting the chance to catch up.
“We’ve recorded fights in the past, so just watch after the game,” Jeff said. “We’ll see. We’ll kind of play it by ear.”
Despite their separate sporting realms, the brothers feel they’re on a shared ride. Now 33, Mike has found success in mixed martial arts, boasting a 12-2-1 record with four wins on five UFC cards, including two knockouts.
Meanwhile, Jeff has also reached a professional peak. Through the Kings’ first five games of 2025-26, he has averaged 7:12 of ice time on their fourth line, notched his first career NHL goal and endeared himself to fans and teammates alike by dropping the gloves in two fights.
“We watched his game (Monday against the Minnesota Wild) and they do a close up on him on the bench,” Mike Malott recently told Sportsnet. “And I’m like, ‘Dammit, man. Like, that’s my brother. How cool is this? Like, my little brother’s playing in the NHL right now for the L.A. Kings. This is so cool. How crazy of a moment is this?’
“I’m sure (he) has a bunch of goals as far as hockey is concerned. And I have a bunch of goals as far as the UFC is concerned.”
Jeff’s fate with the Kings could soon change once Perry, a former Hart Trophy winner and longtime NHL irritant, returns from injury. No matter what, though, Mike will be keeping close tabs and reveling in the road that his brother has forged.
“We reflect on it all the time together,” Jeff said. “Anytime one of us has a big moment coming up, we’re always each other’s biggest fans.”
Jeff Malott has staked out a fourth-line role with the Kings to start the 2025-26 season. (Jeff Bottari / NHLI via Getty Images)
Murray Malott will be watching Mike’s fight live in Vancouver, but he is hoping that the Rogers Arena lounge where he and wife, Anne, will be stationed on Saturday will be showing the Kings-Hurricanes game on television too. The Malott parents beam whenever they watch their sons fulfill their dreams, the product of a household where sports were highly valued yet a balance was maintained.
Their daughters, Lauren and Kathryn, were competitive figure skaters; the former now teaches power skating, while the latter switched to rugby and crew in college. “We always joke about it: The girls are the ones that you got to watch out for in our family,” Jeff said. “They’re true competitors.”
The kids weren’t locked into their favorite sports, either. Lauren ran cross country. Mike and Jeff competed in track and field. Now the brothers are thriving in the octagon and on the ice.
“From the time Mike was 15 years old, he said, ‘One day, I’m going to be in the UFC,’” Murray said. “Jeff never talked about ever being in the NHL. He just quietly went along and kept plugging along. That’s one thing different about them but the thing that is really similar about them is they really, really were dedicated and worked their butts off. They just never stopped.
“They were never the best, I don’t think, but they were probably the hardest workers. And I think that really was one of the things that got them to where they are today. They still do. They still work really hard.”
As his profile in the UFC world expands, Mike Malott doesn’t overlook his origins in mixed martial arts, having picked up the sport as a massive fan. He called that win over Fugitt “an unreal night,” when an arena full of Canadian compatriots erupted in cheers, and wants a repeat of that Saturday when he takes on the taller, longer Holland.
“For me, it’s just going out there and executing my technique,” Mike told UFC.com. “I know I’m one of the most dangerous guys in the UFC and in the division. I’ve got pretty much 50-50 knockouts and submissions against. All my submissions in the UFC are against guys that have never been submitted. Some of the guys I have been knocking out are pretty dangerous strikers.
“I’m just really confident going into this fight and I just want to go in there and just have another solid performance.”
While Jeff won’t be present in Vancouver, he is firmly in Mike’s corner. Every fight. Every day and night.
“It’s pretty wicked for him to be able to represent Canadian MMA like that on a stage like that,” Jeff said. “He’s pumped and we’re all pumped for him.
“He’s only getting better. MMA is a crazy game where every fight gets harder and harder. He’s done such a great job handling that. And we’re all so proud of him.”
Mike Malott boasts a 12-2-1 record as a professional mixed martial artist heading into Saturday night’s UFC fight. (Jeff Bottari / Zuffa LLC)
Undrafted out of Cornell University, Jeff logged four games with the ECHL’s Florida Everblades in his first pro season. He went on to spend four years with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose before making his NHL debut with the Winnipeg Jets in March 2022. It lasted eight shifts, totaling a hair over four minutes of ice time.
He continued to produce after moving to the Kings’ AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign, notching his fourth 20-goal season in 2024-25. The persistence paid off when injuries to forwards Tanner Jeannot and Alex Turcotte last spring led the organization to recall Jeff for his Los Angeles debut on March 27.
What was originally imagined as a temporary stay has been willed into a bit of permanence by his performance. With Jeannot effectively lost for the remainder for the regular season, the Burlington, Ont., native stayed with the Kings and dressed on the fourth line for all six of their first-round playoff series against the Edmonton Oilers.
“It was a lot of years in the minors,” Jeff said. “A lot of time spent trying to make that jump and working on things that would help that transition. Learning to play the right way. Learning to play the pro game. Learning how to have an impact anywhere in the lineup. And just really a lot of time practicing being reliable and being trusted out there.
“Just (to) come up last year and try and earn every day and have that translate into some playoff hockey experience was absolutely incredible. That’s what everybody’s working for. That’s some pretty valuable experience.”
In the Kings’ second game this season, against the Vegas Golden Knights on Oct. 8, a shot from linemate Joel Armia struck Jeff on the backside and skipped past goalie Adin Hill for his first NHL goal. Jeff would rather the milestone have come last April, when he coincidentally made a move around the sliding Perry, then with the Oilers, and beat goalie Calvin Pickard with a diving shot. His Kings teammates quickly mobbed him in celebration, but the goal was called back on a successful offside challenge.
If kids are in his future, Jeff said, “I’m probably pulling up YouTube and showing them a goal against Edmonton and cutting it 10 seconds short. That’s exactly what I’ll do.
“They won’t see the goal in Vegas,” he continued. “But we joke at a lot of the goals I’ve had. I got a lot of text from a lot of guys that have played with me in the American League and know that I’ve had a lot more goals look like the one in Vegas than the one against Edmonton. I don’t really care how it goes in. And I think everybody would have the same answer. It’s nice to just have one count.”
Added Mike in his Sportsnet interview, “And it was one of the coolest goals you’ll ever see in hockey. That one stung for him.”
Mostly skating on their fourth line with Turcotte and either Joel Armia or Alex Laferriere, Jeff has established a presence and shown adaptability for the Kings, embracing an energy-and-protector role in contrast to his more offensive-minded AHL presence. When teammates Warren Foegele and Brandt Clarke were on the receiving end of big hits in separate games, Jeff didn’t hesitate to get into fights as a responsive measure.
Growing up, Jeff was smart enough to not prod his brother into scraps. Any of them that occurred, he said, usually happened on Mike’s terms. But he laughs about those today. And Mike noted that Jeff has registered more fights than goals in this young NHL season, adding that “he’s not wasting any time making his presence known. … He’s a killer, a workhorse and super inspirational getting to watch him do his thing. And we just chat about this journey together a lot.”
Two brothers, two sports, two fantasies turned reality.
“It’s great to be able to lean on each other to when times get stressful or things pick up,” Jeff said. “For us, it’s cool to be able to relate to somebody as close as your brother like that.”