New York, NY — He was supposed to be fighting Serhiy Sidey, instead, bantamweight Malcolm Wellmaker gets Australia’s Cody Haddon at UFC 322 in New York this Saturday.
A fellow prospect, paired up early in their respective UFC runs. Not the sort of matchmaking you see every day from the world’s largest MMA promotion, who tend to prefer feeding their old to their young.
“Definitely a fellow prospect. I was kind of surprised that they matched us up, because it kind of goes against the narrative of building prospects,” Wellmaker (10-0) admitted during Wednesday’s UFC 322 media day, speaking with media outlets including Cageside Press. “But it’s a great fight for us and for the fans.”
Wellmaker knows what Haddon, who saw a fight against Alexandre Topuria fall through earlier this year, brings to the table.
“As far as his skillset, he’s an accomplished amateur boxer in his country, he’s a black belt in jiu-jitsu, and when you watch the kid fight, he is a dog. He walks forward. When he faces adversity, as far as fatigue, as far as getting hit, he leans into it. Beyond his skillset, I think that’s his most powerful trait, because that is fighting. Not all fights are pretty, and he thrives in that.”
With that in mind, it was suggested to Wellmaker on Wednesday that Haddon is a tougher fight than his original opponent. Wellmaker agreed with an asterisk.
“I do think this is a tougher fight, in a different way. Serhiy presented his challenges, and the approach was going to be much different than it is with Cody Haddon,” he replied. “But yes and no.”
In his early 30s, Malcolm Wellmaker got a late start in the UFC. The promotion has been pushing him as a potential future star however.
“Being labelled as a UFC star is crazy to me. I guess in some sense, I fit the qualifications of it.” Life, however, hasn’t changed much for Wellmaker. “My life don’t look too much different, and I just keep doing what I’ve been doing.”
Watch the full UFC 322 media day appearance by Malcolm Wellmaker above.
