On the main card of UFC 297, one of the rising stars in Canadian MMA is going to be fighting in front of his hometown crowd. Canada’s own Mike Malott (10-1-1) will look to remain perfect inside the octagon as he takes on “The Haitian Sensation” Neil Magny (28-11).
Magny is coming off a tough loss against Ian Garry back in August. Magny is 4-3 in his last seven fights, but he does have some very solid wins during that stretch. Wins that include Geoff Neal and a submission win over Daniel Rodriguez. He’ll be looking to stop the hype train of Mike Malott tomorrow night.
Mike Malott is 3-0 in the UFC after earning a contract on Dana White’s Contender Series. What’s even more impressive is the fact that Malott has finished six straight opponents heading into his fight tomorrow night. This is the biggest step up for him in competition thus far and with a win, he’ll likely be in the welterweight rankings.
UFC 297 Prediction
It feels like every time there’s a rising welterweight prospect, the UFC throws them in there with Neil Magny to really test to see how good they are. Some of those contenders pass with flying colors like Shavkat Rakhmonov and Ian Garry. However, Magny has turned a lot of top contenders away like Geoff Neal, Daniel Rodriguez, and Li Jingliang.
Magny is very long and I expect him to fight behind the jab on the feet. However, Magny would love to get this fight into the clinch where he does a great job of using his long limbs for leverage. He loves short elbows and knees in tight. While that will be his game plan, I’m expecting Malott to rely on his speed and power.
Ian Garry poked a huge hole in Neil Magny with leg kicks. I would expect Malott to use the same strategy to assist in chopping Magny down. I think his speed and power is really going to play a factor and he’ll get the better of the exchanges. He’s going to see some resistance, but I do think he’ll get Magny out of there with a second round submission which will make the Toronto crowd go crazy at UFC 297.
Prediction: Mike Malott by Submission – Round 2