Mike Malott and Trevin Giles, UFC Edmonton ceremonial weigh-in credit: Jay Anderson/Cageside Press
After suffering a heartbreaking last-minute loss to Neil Magny earlier this year and then being sidelined with injury, Mike Marotte made his return at UFC Edmonton, pairing up with Trevin Giles at welterweight.
With “The Problem” ending for the second time in a row, Giles needed a win of his own. It was first submitted by Gabriel Bonfim last year and most recently stopped in February by Carlos Prates.
The match started cautiously, as both players seemed to know what the consequences would be if they made a wrong move. The two men twitched their leaden hands. Marotte landed a flurry of rear body kicks early and often. Feint and fake. Mike also threw a punch. Giles waited patiently to fire and schooled his jab in the right spots. Midway through the round, Malott was bleeding from his nose from the blows. Giles pivoted on the outside and absorbed a thumping leg kick. In the final seconds of the round, Malott increased his attack power, but missed nearly every attack. Giles cleverly moved out of range to evade the attack, choosing not to respond as time expired.
Towards the start of the second round, Giles began to jab forward with his front foot. Malott panicked and punched Giles, but Giles shook him off. Mike kept trying to come forward, but other than kicks, he couldn’t seem to get much of a flash. Giles continued to sting Mike as Jab chose to hit the jab. With nearly two minutes left in the round, Giles stopped a half-hearted takedown. Mike continued to increase the pace of the action by repeatedly hitting the outside of Trevin’s leg. Giles remained very cautious, never throwing more than two strikes at a time. Mike still moved forward, spinning and delivering all kinds of kicks from different angles, finding Trevin’s chin with a jumping switch kick at the end of the round to a pop from the local crowd.
The final round started with Giles sticking out his jab. There seemed to be a little more urgency in his movements. Marotte tried to keep his opponent’s defense healthy with a rear body kick and again touched his opponent’s chin with a tee. Malott landed a partial high kick as Giles continued to advance very carefully at regular intervals. Midway through the round, Malott landed a nice boxing combination upstairs. With 30 seconds left in the battle, the two fighters collided in the center of the octagon. Even as time expired amidst boos and jeers from the crowd, both players continued to take a cautious approach, looking for a counterattack.
“I needed to get back to those winning ways,” Malott said in the post-fight interview, apologizing for not delivering a finish to the Canadian crowd. Mike said how important this win was to him and that he had to fight smart and get the win to do what was best for his career. Especially against a fighter like Giles.
Official results: Mike Marotte vs. Trevin Giles unanimous decision 30-27, 29-28, 29-28
