Ethyn Ewing won his 2nd MMA fight in 8 days in his UFC debut in New York. How does that happen?

NEW YORK (AP) — Ethyn Ewing slept through dozens of calls and text messages Thursday morning, from everyone from anxious family members to his inner fight camp circle.

Wake up, Ethyn. His UFC dream was waiting for him.

“My sister, she never calls me in the morning,” Ewing said. “She said, ‘call dad, it’s an emergency.’ I thought it was a car accident or something. I was not thinking (UFC). I called my dad back first. He goes, ’I’m gonna whup your ass if you don’t wake up and answer your phone calls.”

The 27-year-old Ewing answered the bell with about 48 hours' notice to make his UFC debut on a pay-per-view at — of all places — Madison Square Garden.

He couldn't be totally blamed for needing some extra shuteye. Ewing had just fought days earlier, winning an MMA fight on Nov. 7 as part of the A1 Combat promotion.

Ewing's whirlwind 48 hours from call time to bell time whisked him from California to New York with everything — from a weight cut to a weigh in to a late-night stroll through Times Square — thrown in before he fought Malcolm Wellmaker at UFC 322 on Saturday night.

“Is this real? Am I supposed to be here,” Ewing said as he wandered Times Square. “All the big lights, the action, the movies. This is where it happens.”

From Rudy to Rocky, sports fans love an underdog on the big screen.

The Garden fans sure loved this unknown fighter who stepped in as a last-minute injury replacement and beat the undefeated Wellmaker via unanimous decision to give him two MMA wins in only eight days.

Only the most niche of hardcore fight fans had probably ever heard of Ewing, who dropped his first two pro fights before winning eight straight overall headed into his UFC debut.

This is where the UFC matchmakers — who meet with CEO Dana White each Tuesday — enter the picture.

Ewing was plucked from a deep well of potential prospects to earn a shot at fighting on a UFC card headlined by two title fights.

Tapology, the leading combat sports database, listed 3,033 MMA fighters who have competed this year through Nov. 15 in the United States and who are not signed to the UFC. If not restricted to the United States, that number balloons to 17,451 fighters.

That's where UFC matchmaker Sean Selby comes in, a veteran of the fight game who pours through hours of tape each day from even the smallest regional MMA promotions to potentially find the next big star.

Or least a fighter who's available in a pinch.

Injuries are part of the game and UFC was in a bit of a bind when Cody Haddon was hurt.

The most pressing question in that circumstance is, should UFC find a replacement fighter or kick the originally scheduled fight down the road?

Wellmaker badly wanted a coveted spot on the UFC 322 preliminary card — and it wasn't his fault when one opponent dropped out with an injury and then Haddon, Shelby said, “exploded his foot on his trainer's elbow" during camp, which necessitated another new fighter.

Shelby scouted other fighters ahead of Ewing to find the matchup that made the most sense. One potential prospect was injured. Another was too heavy for the scheduled 145-pound fight. Shelby also scanned a list of fighters already in the UFC pipeline, such as ones involved in “Dana White's Contender Series.”

“The worst thing that could ever happen as far as I'm concerned is it ends up being a mismatch,” Shelby said. “I want to set up the most credible spot possible and let the chips fall when they may.”

Ewing emerged as a top target, even though he had fought days earlier in Wheatland, California, where he scored a first-round knockout win. His mandated medical time off was set to expire, so the fighter was off to get checked out, book a flight, and make weight (he said he cut about a dozen pounds to face Wellmaker).

“He probably hadn't had time to get too fat,” Shelby said. “So, I felt good about it.”

Shelby said Ewing was considered a rising prospect — he was on the company's radar for a spot possibly next year in the “Contender” series — and there are no plans to waste the buzz created by the UFC rookie.

“That's what makes it so amazing for him. It's so tough to come in short notice,” Shelby said. “(Wellmaker) has been preparing and is at the very, very top of his peaking right then and you've got a guy coming in on a day's notice. You're worried about doing your medicals, you're worried about cutting weight. You have all these things stacked against you. He had 24 hours. That's rare, that a guy comes out like this.”

Ewing actually signed a four-fight deal with UFC ahead of the Wellmaker bout and he could step inside the cage again as soon as early next year. Ewing and his wife are expecting a baby boy on Dec. 10, and he said the impending birth would consume the bulk of his time.

But should another fighter in the preferred 135-pound weight class withdraw, and another pinch-hitter is needed, Ewing could get the call.

“Because he did this, because he took that chance, everybody's going to want to see him again," Shelby said. “He's bumped way up as far as probably where he's going to go on the card and what card he's going to be on.”

AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

Ethyn Ewing celebrates after defeating Malcolm Wellmaker during a featherweight bout at the UFC 322 mixed martial arts event, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Ethyn Ewing, left, punches Malcolm Wellmaker, right, during the first round of a featherweight bout at the UFC 322 mixed martial arts event, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Ethyn Ewing, right, punches Malcolm Wellmaker, left, during the second round of a featherweight bout at the UFC 322 mixed martial arts event, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Ethyn Ewing, left, punches Malcolm Wellmaker, right, during the first round of a featherweight bout at the UFC 322 mixed martial arts event, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Ethyn Ewing, right, punches Malcolm Wellmaker, left, during the third round of a featherweight bout at the UFC 322 mixed martial arts event, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday he’s holding a White House Situation Room meeting with his advisers as he looks to make a “final determination” on moving forward with a deal to extend the Iran ceasefire and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Iran said the deal has not been finalized.

Trump confirmed the high-level talks the day after The Associated Press and other news outlets reported that U.S. and Iranian negotiators had come to terms on a tentative agreement. The deal would extend the fragile ceasefire by 60 days as new talks are held on Iran’s disputed nuclear program.

Trump wrote on social media that “Iran must agree that they will never have a Nuclear Weapon or Bomb.” He said the strait must be reopened for international navigation and all sea mines destroyed.

Iran’s main negotiator said Friday that it has “no trust in guarantees or words,” only actions, underscoring lingering distrust after the U.S. and Israel have twice attacked Iran over the past year while it was engaged in nuclear negotiations.

“No step will be taken before the other side acts,” Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf wrote on X. “We do not gain concessions through talks, but through missiles."

Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei later told a state broadcaster that the agreement “has not been finalized yet.”

On Thursday, U.S. Vice President JD Vance suggested negotiators were trying to strike general terms on Iran’s nuclear program, with the specifics to be hammered out in the ensuing talks.

Trump and his team said from the start of the conflict that a prime objective was to ensure that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon, but Vance framed the war’s accomplishments more modestly.

“We’re in a position where we could substantially set back their nuclear program, not just during the term of this president but over the long term,” Vance said, adding that it would be “very, very good” for Americans.

Baghaei, however, said Friday that Iranian officials were "focused on the end of war and are not discussing the details of the nuclear plan at this point.”

Iran also wants any deal to include a truce between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, where fighting has intensified despite a nominal ceasefire.

The Islamic Republic has 440.9 kilograms (972 pounds) of uranium that is enriched up to 60% purity, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Iran has long maintained its nuclear program is peaceful and has not publicly committed to giving up the stockpile. It's believed to be buried under three nuclear sites that were badly damaged by U.S. strikes last year.

Trump returned Friday to his on-and-off demand for the removal of the cache as part of a deal. The material would be unearthed by the U.S., in coordination with Iran and the IAEA, “and DESTROYED,” he posted.

The proposed memorandum makes clear that Iran would not be able to impose tolls on the Strait of Hormuz and that it would have to remove all mines from the vital waterway within 30 days, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The U.S. would gradually lift its blockade on Iranian ports and would also agree to relax sanctions, allowing Iran to sell more of its oil.

Baghaei said Iran and Oman, which lie on opposite sides of the strait, would manage it and “adopt mechanisms” for transit through it, "based on their own national interests and the interests of the international community.”

The two nations' foreign ministers discussed the issue by phone earlier Friday, according to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who wrote on X that he had expressed solidarity “in the face of any threat.”

On Wednesday, Trump had warned Oman — a U.S. ally — not to enter into any agreement with Iran to share control of the strait or the U.S. will “have to blow them up.”

Iran has effectively closed the strait since the U.S. and Israel launched a surprise attack on Feb. 28 that killed Iran's supreme leader and other top officials. Before then, the waterway was open to international traffic, and around a fifth of the world's oil and gas passed through it.

The closure of the strait has caused the price of fuel and other goods to soar, with the effects felt far beyond the Middle East.

Iran has said it lets some commercial vessels pass — about two dozen daily in recent days, compared with more than 100 a day before the war. But the Islamic Republic also has charged tolls for at least some ships and established a formal gatekeeper agency earlier this month, spurring a new round of U.S. sanctions this week.

Since the ceasefire began about seven weeks ago, the U.S. and Iran have traded strikes and accusations of ceasefire violations. But they have not returned to full-scale hostilities and have kept negotiating.

Associated Press writers Jennifer Peltz and Farnoush Amiri in New York, and Matthew Lee in Washington, contributed.

Men ride on their motorbike at the historic neighborhood of Oudlajan in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, May 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

People cross an intersection in front of a billboard showing a portrait of the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash in 2024, in downtown Tehran, Iran, Thursday, May 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)