Malcolm Wellmaker had an up-and-down 2025 and the bantamweight standout returns to action at Saturday’s UFC Fight Night at the Meta Apex.
Wellmaker, of Augusta, Ga., is set to meet Peru’s Juan Diaz in a featured main card matchup with Wellmaker aiming to bounce back from his first pro setback.
The 31-year-old earned his UFC contract through Dana White’s Contender Series in 2024 with a first-round knockout and began his UFC tenure with two more first-round knockouts in the first half of 2025.
Wellmaker fell to 10-1 after suffering his first professional loss in his most recent appearance back at UFC 322 in November when he accepted a matchup with UFC newcomer Ethan Ewing on roughly 48 hours’ notice.
Ewing won his debut and earned a unanimous decision, but Wellmaker explained to Sportsnet’s Aaron Bronsteter the 15 minutes he spent in the cage with Ewing was a valuable learning experience.
-
UFC on Sportsnet
Featherweights Arnold Allen and Melquizael Costa headline a UFC Fight Night card at the Meta Apex. Watch the action on Saturday, May 16 on Sportsnet 360 and Sportsnet+ with coverage beginning at 6 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. PT.
Wellmaker admitted after that fight he accepted the matchup without doing any research on Ewing as an opponent and, as for the fight itself, he said he was shown “a ton of technical holes” in his own game, too.
That loss to Ewing took place at 145 pounds, even though Wellmaker had been scheduled to face Cody Haddon in a 135-pound contest. However, Haddon was removed from the card with an injury.
“Two losses in a row would be devastating to someone that had the type of hype I had behind me as a prospect, but I don’t feel pressure in the sense that it’s influencing the way that I’m handling the stress of the fight,” Wellmaker said.
Six of Wellmaker’s 10 pro wins to date have been via KO/TKO and oddsmakers have a Wellmaker stoppage win as the most likely outcome when he and Diaz meet.
Wellmaker has serious power at 135 pounds. He explained he first learned he had KO power in his hands when he started training in kickboxing before his mixed martial arts career. Wellmaker competed as an amateur in MMA starting in 2018 before turning pro in 2022.
“We was still fighting with headgear and big boxing gloves and I was hitting guys and I was wobbling them hard and getting finishes and I was like, ‘Man, I got the touch of death,’ and then it worked against me because I didn’t learn wrestling because of that until later in the game,” Wellmaker added with a laugh. “But, you know, it came full circle and now I got the wrestling to pair with (the punching power).”
Wellmaker’s fight with Diaz is scheduled as a bantamweight contest, so he’ll be competing down at his natural fighting weight of 135 pounds where he has proven KO ability.
Diaz, 27, is 15-1-1 and coming off a spectacular spinning elbow knockout on the Contender Series in October.
Saturday’s event is headlined by top-10 featherweight contenders Arnold Allen and Melquizael Costa.
Projected bout order for Saturday’s 13-fight card (subject to change):
— Arnold Allen vs. Melquizael Costa
— Dooho Choi vs. Daniel Santos
— Malcolm Wellmaker vs. Juan Diaz
— Modestas Bukauskas vs. Christian Edwards
— Timothy Cuamba vs. Bernardo Sopaj
— Nikolay Veretennikov vs. Khaos Williams
— Tuco Tokkos vs. Ivan Erslan
— Thomas Gantt vs. Artur Minev
— Ketlen Vieira vs. Jacqueline Cavalcanti
— Cody Brundage vs. Andre Petroski
— Alice Ardelean vs. Polyana Viana
— Daniel Barez vs. Luis Gurule
— Shauna Bannon vs. Nicolle Caliari