Sean Shelby's Shoes: What's next for Mike Malott after UFC Edmonton win?

Mike Malott leveled up once again Saturday at UFC Fight Night 291 and scored the greatest highlight of his career in the biggest spot of his career.

Malott (15-2-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC) extended his winning streak to five fights when he brutally knocked out Joaquin Buckley (22-9 MMA, 11-7 UFC) in the second round of their welterweight headliner at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Although he carries a rather unassuming personality, it's clear Malott needs to be taken seriously as a player at 170 pounds. Buckley has fought some of the best names in the history of the division, and no one has been able to put him out the way Malott did with his clean knee to the jaw.

Malott's career gains a ton of momentum off the back of this result, and he's even further benefited in knowing exactly when we'll see him again. UFC 336 goes down in Malott's home province of Ontario on Jan. 30 in Toronto, and he's in great position to get perhaps the most prominent non-title matchup of the card.

Now it's a matter of determining who will be standing across the octagon from Malott as he pursues a sixth consecutive victory.

Some of the post-fight names thrown around online included former champion Jack Della Maddalena (18-4 MMA, 8-2 UFC), and someone in that position seems like the appropriate next step for Malott. Della Maddalena is in desperate need of a rebound after losing to Islam Makhachev and Carlos Prates in dominant fashion, and he would likely be favored in a potential clash with the Canadian.

There's an argument to be made that Malott should also fight someone with some momentum behind him. After Buckley and Gilbert Burns, Della Maddalena would be the third straight Malott opponent who entered the matchup on a losing skid.

Beating someone on the rise, like the winner of the Nov. 7 headliner between Sean Brady (20-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) and Gabriel Bonfim (19-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 293, perhaps, would be arguably a more meaningful win at this point in time.

Any of these options at all would be a huge opportunity for Malott, though, and as he said post-fight, he is not picky so long as he gets to fight at UFC 336.