Issue 221

September 2025

E. Spencer Kyte explores how home advantage might roar in the stands, but as both science and fighters shows how it may not always score inside the Octagon.

The degree to which fighters enjoy competing on home soil varies. Some thrive. Others wilt. A study in the International Journal of Performance Analysis in Sport looked at UFC bouts where the same athletes fought at home and away. The findings? Fighters attempted and landed fewer strikes in their home country. The researchers suggest familiarity, crowd pressure, and tactical shifts might play a role, but they didn’t consistently change who got their hand raised. Home advantage in MMA is more complicated than a roaring crowd. With the UFC in the midst of a three-month run that features five international events, we reached to a pair of athletes set to compete at home — Australian Jake Matthews, who fought Neil Magny in Perth at the end of September, and Canadian Mike Malott, who faces Kevin Holland midway through the month in Vancouver — to get their perspectives on making the walk in front of their home crowd.

FEELS LIKE HOME

Jake Matthews first appeared on the UFC radar as a member of the Australian contingent on the international season of The Ultimate Fighter, known as TUF: Nations, where the Aussies faced off against a cast of Canadians. During his 12-plus-year career, he has fought 11 times in Australia and twice in New Zealand. 

“For me, fighting for so long and fighting around the world, it doesn’t feel any different,” he said when asked about competing at home. “Obviously, on the night, the atmosphere is a lot louder, and you do get that buzz from the crowd being a hometown fighter or a home-country fighter, but in terms of how I feel, it’s no different if I’m fighting in New Jersey, Abu Dhabi, Perth, Melbourne; it doesn’t matter. If the Octagon is there, I feel at home. On the night, you do take notice of the crowd, but more so after the fight. Before the fight, you’re zoned in on everything. You can’t really hear the crowd, see the crowd. The crowd is irrelevant until after the fight, and that’s when you take it in.”

For Matthews, competing abroad dials in the focus a little differently than when he’s competing in Oz.

“It feels like you haven’t left Melbourne. Same shops, you know how to talk to people, approach people, so in that way it’s familiar. I think sometimes going overseas, being in a totally different environment, a different country switches you on to ‘I’m here for a purpose.’ I’ve been with the UFC for a long time now, so I’ve learned to hit the switch myself, but sometimes being too familiar, too comfortable in the country that you’re from, sometimes you don’t hit that switch for the fight.”

NO PLACE LIKE HOME

Mike Malott was reared on the Olympics and World Junior Hockey Championships, and he loves competing at home, which he’ll do against Kevin Holland when the UFC returns to Vancouver later in October. 

“When I fight in Canada, it feels like a bigger event, and it feels like there is so much more celebration behind it,” smiles Malott. “It feels even more monumental. I want to fight in the UFC a whole bunch of times and have great memories — I’ve fought at the APEX, I’ve fought in the States, and those are both awesome, but once I felt the energy of coming out to Vancouver the last time, felt the reception at the press conference and the weigh-ins, and then walking out to the fight, I was like, ‘That’s incredible! That’s a completely different level!”

At his last home event, the fans at Rogers Arena were so fired up that the weight of them leaning against the rail to high-five him caused the guardrail to collapse.

“I would love to fight at home every time moving forward. I know that’s not within my control, but the next one is, and I’m excited for it. Even though I haven’t been the main event yet, it feels like every time I walk out — and it feels the same for Jas (Jasmine Jasudavicius), where every time she walks out — the fans are so behind us it kind of makes us feel like we’re the main event. We seem to get a lot more support and cheers, and people are just more invested than being some random dude on some random undercard. I love our country, man. It’s awesome to get to represent us.”

LOCAL LOVE

As much as Malott relishes how fired up the fans get, he’s amped to be alongside fellow Canucks, which feels like rolling with your high school class. 

“The fight weeks in Canada are always something special. I talked about fighting in the States. My debut was in Jacksonville, and I didn’t have any other Canadians on the card, and that one felt a little more centered around me and my team. My friend ‘Fluffy’ (Anthony Hernandez) fought on that card too, so I had him there and some of our friends, but it was very much just our team. Since then, even the next fight at the APEX, Jasmine was on that card, so we had her and her coaches there too, and a bunch of our coaches came down, so we had all of us there together. Being able to show up on fight week and see all the guys in the lobby and be like, ‘Hey man, we’re going through this again!’ We’re all fighting individually, but it’s cool to have our own little army. Our own little militia heading to these fights together. You build a bond with these guys. I had never met Aiemann or Jourdain before fighting on a card with him, Marc-Andre Barriault, but you can’t help but feel closer to them having these fight experiences. Obviously, I know Jas and Serhiy, Kyle, and Diana quite well, but these other guys, you build a good bond with them. And it’s cool to have. It’s almost like your graduating class. It’s super-cool, man. I love it.”

FUTURE PREDICTION

For Matthews, home comforts didn’t translate into victory, with Magny forcing a submission in Perth. It echoed the research: the crowd can change the noise but not always the numbers. Home advantage is a fickle companion. The science says performances shift, but outcomes don’t always follow suit. What’s certain is that whether it’s under maple leaves, gum trees, or neon lights abroad, fighters will keep chasing the same thing: a way to make the walk feel like home, wherever the Octagon happens to be planted.