Malcolm Wellmaker Wants to Prove He Has More Power Than Sean O’Malley

Malcolm
Wellmaker (9-0) wants to flatten Kris
Moutinho to prove (14-6) that he has more power than Sean
O’Malley. 

Wellmaker will take on Moutinho in front of a home crowd at

UFC Atlanta on Saturday at the State Farm Arena. This marks
Moutinho’s return to the UFC after a brief two-fight stint in
2021-22. Moutinho took his first fight against O’Malley on 11 days’
notice. O’Malley landed a total of 230 significant strikes, the
most ever in a three-round
UFC bantamweight fight. However, Moutinho showed immense heart
in continuing to go forward despite taking damage before being
stopped with 27 seconds left on the clock. 

Wellmaker noted that O’Malley, a knockout artist, couldn’t put
Moutinho out cold. Now, Wellmaker, a knockout artist in his own
right, wants to put Moutinho to sleep to prove a point.

“Do I have more power than Sean O’Malley? So I’m on a mission to
show the world that I can hit harder than him,” Wellmaker told
Carlo Perruzza. “So I get the opportunity to
crack somebody that he couldn’t put out cold, when he’s put many
bantamweights out cold. And if I do this, I think that’s gonna put
a very nice asterisk next to my power, as having the power that
Sean O’Malley doesn’t have.”

Moutinho suffered a knockout loss against Guido
Cannetti before being released from the UFC. However, the
32-year-old has since bounced back with five consecutive finishes
on the regional circuit to get another UFC call. 

Meanwhile, Wellmaker has finished seven of his nine pro wins — five
of them via knockout. Despite earning his contract with a knockout
on
Dana White’s Contender Series last year, the undefeated
prospect was a welder by day until recently. However, that changed
with a bonus-winning knockout win over Cameron Saimaan in his UFC
debut this past April.