Malcolm Wellmaker is about to make his third appearance in the octagon with his upcoming fight booked at UFC 322, but it\u2019s only his second time competing in the promotion without also enduring a grueling 40-hour work week.<\/p>\n
After signing to the UFC from Dana White\u2019s Contender Series, Wellmaker maintained his full-time job as a welder and a member of the pipefitter\u2019s union in his home state of Georgia. He put in a lot of years to earn a comfortable living from his day job that MMA couldn\u2019t provide. Wellmaker always hoped that would change.<\/p>\n
A vicious knockout in his UFC debut earned Wellmaker a $50,000 bonus and that finally allowed him to put in his notice that fighting would now be his only occupation. He then tacked on another $50,000 bonus following a second highlight-reel finish, so Wellmaker feels financially justified in his decision.<\/p>\n
The 31-year-old bantamweight looks back now and marvels at finding as much success as he did while still grinding away at his old job, which was both physically and mentally taxing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s crazy and maybe it\u2019s specific to the trade and the type of job that I came from but I honestly could not even imagine competing at this level and having to work that kind of job,\u201d Wellmaker told MMA Fighting. \u201cIf the me today fought the me while working that kind of job, there\u2019s no way I could be even close to my true potential. The amount of stress that puts the body, your mind, on the rest of your life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wellmaker has now gone through two full training camps where he only had to think about fighting and nothing else. He admits his readiness now compared to his debut is almost night and day.<\/p>\n
Fighter pay remains one of the hottest topics in combat sports, especially after the UFC inked a massive $7.7 billion deal to move from ESPN to Paramount in 2026. UFC CEO Dana White has promised fighter salaries will increase as a result of that huge influx of revenue, but there\u2019s been no public disclosure on any kind of percentages or amounts that athletes could expect to see.<\/p>\n
For his part, Wellmaker isn\u2019t complaining about his paycheck by any means because he\u2019s finally making enough now so the UFC is his only job, but he struggles to comprehend how anybody works full time and finds success in the fight game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was single without kids at the time [I got into the UFC],\u201d Wellmaker said. \u201cI\u2019m married and have a child now. If I had to deal with all that and then the job and try to train and then the pressures of going and being on this huge stage, I just don\u2019t know how I could do it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s almost crazy that I was able to do what I did when I did do it while working a full-time job.\u201d<\/p>\n
With all of his attention on his fighting career, Wellmaker expects big things ahead after what\u2019s already been a crazy 2025.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard for him to wrap his head around the fact he\u2019s now 2-0 in the UFC with two knockouts and two post-fight bonuses with hopes he could add a third with his upcoming fight against Cody Haddon on Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s crazier of a rookie year than I ever could have imagined,\u201d Wellmaker said. \u201cThe first two fights, the places I fought, the opponents I fought, the way that the finish happened has just been absolutely incredible. To top it all off with a [Madison Square Garden] card, it\u2019s insane. I think I have an incredible first year to look back on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wellmaker appreciates the attention he\u2019s received thus far and knows the real work starts now that the UFC is putting him in these kinds of positions\u2014like his spot on arguably the biggest card of the year.<\/p>\n
He takes nothing for granted and genuinely appreciates that the UFC seems to think so much of him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sitting here and I\u2019m getting all these great opportunities,\u201d Wellmaker said. \u201cAll these people know who I am and I feel like I haven\u2019t done anything in the organization. Then I have this other side of me that\u2019s like no you did something. You knocked out Cameron Saaiman. You knocked out Kris [Moutinho]. You knocked out Adam Bramhald with the same punch in the first round. You\u2019ve done something great and I sometimes feel like I haven\u2019t done enough and sometimes I feel like I\u2019ve earned where I\u2019m at.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be honest, I don\u2019t know which one is right sometimes. I\u2019m just grateful the UFC thinks that I\u2019ve done enough to be in these positions that I\u2019m in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wellmaker\u2019s success could also potentially lead to a fast rise up the ranks given his exciting style and tendency to produce jaw-dropping knockouts.<\/p>\n
Because he got into the UFC at an older age than the average prospect, Wellmaker knows he\u2019s got no time to waste so he\u2019s hoping another scorched-earth knockout over Haddon could lead to an even bigger fight in 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be completely transparent with you, I was almost wanting a big name [at UFC 322],\u201d Wellmaker said. \u201cI was almost hoping they said something that rung bells and made me crazy excited and almost make me a little nervous. So when I didn\u2019t get a big name like that, it was a little bit disappointing but I\u2019m not truly disappointed when I\u2019m looking at the route that we\u2019re taking.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not upset about it at all. With that being said, I am excited and eager to get a test with a number next to their name.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Malcolm Wellmaker is about to make his third appearance in the octagon with his upcoming fight booked at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280548,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,701,638,82,640,702],"class_list":{"0":"post-280547","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-latest-news","12":"tag-mma","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-ufc","15":"tag-ufc-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}