Malcolm Wellmaker learned a valuable lesson at UFC 322.
Wellmaker (10-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) suffered the first defeat of his professional career at last month’s Madison Square Garden event in a wildly entertaining bout against UFC newcomer Ethyn Ewing (8-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC). “The Machine” had originally been scheduled to face Cody Haddon, but a last-minute injury forced the Australian to withdraw at the eleventh hour.
Ewing, who had scored a first-round knockout at Urijah Faber’s A1 Combat just days earlier, was brought in to replace Haddon the night before weigh-ins. Wellmaker admits he completely underestimated the short-notice replacement and paid the price.
“Oh, man…I hate even admitting this,” Wellmaker told Ariel Helwani on Wednesday. “But the full extent of my research was I looked him up, I saw his record. Eight and two, seven knockouts. Obviously, he's a striker. And the only clip I watched of him was the highlight of him when he knocked out Billy Brand the week before. And that was it. That was all of the knowledge that I went into the fight with, foolishly, obviously.”
Wellmaker punched his ticket to the big leagues with a first-round knockout of Adam Bramhald on Dana White’s Contender Series in August 2024. He followed that up with two more quick-fire wins this year, defeating Cameron Saaimann and Kris Moutinho.
Understandably brimming with confidence after such an impressive start to his UFC tenure, the 31-year-old admits he was naïve in his decision-making during fight week in New York.
“It wasn't cockiness, I don't think so much as it was foolishness because I truly believed that the matchup they were going to give me was ‘the show must go on’ kind of matchup,” he said. “I honestly thought they were taking care of me, which is dumb. It's stupid looking back. But, bro, I'm new to the game. I'm sitting here thinking, ‘last time it was Kris Moutinho. He was cool with getting a contract out of it. Like, I'm going to go in there and do what I'm supposed to do. They want their prospect to keep knocking folks out. So they must be throwing me a guy that's a good striker, but not on my level for sure.’ And just an absolutely dumb assumption to go into the fight with. And obviously, I got a rude awakening shortly after the bell rang in the first round.”
