Ethyn Ewing made his biggest statement yet under the UFC lights on Saturday night, outworking and outlasting Malcolm Wellmaker at UFC 322 to secure a gritty, career-defining victory.
The win over Wellmaker may have surprised most, but Ewing has made a habit of proving people wrong.
“There’s definitely a lot of comments all across social media and you heard the crowd. That’s been the last three crowds that I’ve shown out though,” Ewing told reporters including Cageside Press at his post-fight scrum.
“I got a lot of boos and there’s a lot of cheering for the other guy.”
Ewing (9-2) wasn’t even supposed to be in the octagon on Saturday night. When Cody Haddon fell out of the fight due to injury Ewing took the opportunity against Wellmaker who had been on a tear in the UFC.
He took the opportunity and ran with it.
“The last 48 hours, Thursday I woke up, past my alarms. There’s about 25 missed calls on my cell phone and they said, ‘Hey the UFC’s calling. Better get up and get ready’. I went, I cut weight before they even said yes,” he said.
“Drove all around LA till about 8 o’clock at night (doing medicals), and then I jammed straight to LAX. Obviously the rest has come to fruition.”
“Fighting at MSG, (UFC) debut on two-days notice, and now I get to sit here and do media with you guys,” he said.
After stepping in on short notice and delivering the biggest win of his career, Ewing made it clear he doesn’t plan to keep living in that chaos. With his next outing expected to come at his natural bantamweight home, he emphasized the need for a proper camp, and some time with his growing family.
“Well the next one will be at bantamweight, 135, so I’ll definitely need more than 48 hours to prepare for that,” he said.
“My last fight before this one I said whoever and wherever. I got a baby boy coming December 10th so I would like to stay home and be able to attend to the family. Then January, February, and they call me up, I’ll be well prepared and very hungry to get back in the cage.”
Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Ethyn Ewing above.
