LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - JULY 17: (R-L) Malcolm Gordon of Canada punches Francisco Figueiredo of Brazil in their flyweight bout during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX on July 17, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)
Malcolm Gordon: “I’m Locked In And Looking Forward”
The former TKO flyweight champion Malcolm “X” Gordon made good on his most-recent UFC appearance. Gordon was able to get his first Octagon victory under his belt. It came against a tough task in the form of Francisco Figueiredo. With the decision win, we are about to see what Gordon can truly bring to the UFC cage.
Path To The UFC
Gordon’s first taste of combat sports came in the form of jiu-jitsu in his hometown of Calgary Alberta, Canada. Gordon found his MMA home with the late-great Shawn Tompkins. Tompkins was even the man responsible for securing Gordon his first MMA bout. Gordon stated IBJJF World Masters Champion Jorge Britto has been a crucial coach in his jiu-jitsu game. Coming from the Tompkins camp, Gordon has had the luxury of working with many of the sports’ best legends such as Kevin Randleman, Jeff Curran, and Mark Hominick among others.
Coming out of the gate strong to start his professional career, Gordon started off 5-0 with four of his bouts ending with the finish by the second round. The fifth bout was a unanimous decision that happened on the Bellator stage where he defeated Chris Kelades at Bellator 119 in May 2014. After a couple of losses, one at the end of 2014 and one at the beginning of 2015, Gordon went back to the drawing board and reeled off three big victories. One of those was securing the WXC title at WXC 64: Redemption in August 2016. Gordon continued his belt season by capturing the vacant TKO vacant flyweight title at TKO 42 in March 2018. After four canceled bouts at the end of 2019 and 2020, the chance came for Gordon in the UFC.
Turning It Around In The UFC
2020 was a huge year for Malcolm Gordon in the sense of finally earning his way to the UFC. His hard work and domination, especially in Canada, labeled him as a top UFC prospect. With two losses in the Octagon in 2020, Gordon was able to make the necessary changes to get the much-needed victory. The striking was on-point for Gordon landing 100 total strikes (46 significant strikes) compared to the only 52 total strikes (28 significant strikes) of Figueiredo. Out of the 15 minutes of action, Gordon was able to obtain 6:01 of control time with two takedowns.
“I’m locked in and looking forward to this year’s matchups!! Prime time for flyweights again!” Gordon told MyMMANews. It is indeed so especially if Gordon can build on his new-found groove in the UFC.
