VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Mike Malott was lucky to dodge disaster at UFC 289.
An unexpected scary moment occurred Saturday night at Rogers Arena where a railing gave way as fans leaned over it to cheer on and high-five Malott just as his walkout began. The moment Malott’s signature walkout song of “Fatlip” by Sum 41 started blaring, a plethora of fans tumbled to the arena floor on top of each other in a wild scene caught on video.
It wasn’t apparent on the UFC 289 broadcast, and viewers didn’t get their first inkling of what happened until cageside commentator Daniel Cormier said, “Oh my God, somebody fell out of the stands.”
Railing collapses #UFC289 pic.twitter.com/ffFaHdomfY
— Taner (@TanerFrank) June 11, 2023
After his submission win over Adam Fugitt, Malott said the railing collapse didn’t cause him to lose focus.
“I noticed it for like a quarter of a second,” Malott said. “It fell. I kind of like jumped to the side, stepped over the gate. I was like, ‘One, that sucks for them. Two, don’t think about it, stay focused,’ and immediately forgot about it afterward.”
Malott said he didn’t even remember it happened until one of his cornermen showed him video. That’s how focused he was on what he described as “the biggest fight of my life.”
“I had bigger fish to fry. I had the biggest fight of my life in front of me,” Malott said. “I was focused on that. But like f*ck, man, that would’ve been a sh*tty way for that fight not to happen – have it (the railing) fall on your knee and then you’re on your way to the hospital or something. That would’ve sucked.”
Thankfully that’s not how things played out, and the Canadian standout was able to make the walk to the cage undeterred. In the second round, Malott landed a nice two-punch combo that stunned Fugitt and allowed him to harp on a guillotine choke for the finish.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 289.
