Demetrious Johnson Urges WingedC to Build Strength and Conditioning After First Pro MMA Win

Demetrious Johnson sees a promising step in WingedC’s first professional MMA win, but he believes Malcolm Schuyler needs a more demanding training base before his next bout. That advice now comes with an immediate complication: Schuyler says he shattered the bones in his hand during the fight and needs surgery.

WingedC, the Street Beefs personality whose real name is Malcolm Schuyler, earned a unanimous decision at APFC 26 on Sunday. He dropped his opponent with a capoeira kick, then went the distance to secure his first professional victory. The result moved his record to 1-1.

Johnson watched the bout and shared his assessment a few days later. The former UFC flyweight champion said he was proud of Schuyler’s progress, while pointing to strength and conditioning, hard pad rounds and more sparring as areas to address before another appearance.

Johnson’s advice is about building a fuller camp

“I would like for him to start a strength and conditioning program,” Johnson said. He returned to that recommendation several times, describing it as the kind of training regime he wants to see Schuyler adopt.

His comments went beyond praise for a highlight moment. The capoeira kick helped produce the knockdown, but Johnson’s focus was on what Schuyler can build between bouts: physical preparation, repeated work on the pads and additional sparring rounds. Those elements give a fighter more opportunities to develop power, pace and decision-making under pressure. Johnson didn’t prescribe a schedule or set out a detailed plan, so the specifics of any program remain with Schuyler and his coaches.

Johnson also drew on his own background, saying that strength and conditioning during his amateur years resembled the preparation of a professional athlete. The point was clear: a good result can mark progress while also showing where a fighter’s routine may need to grow. Schuyler is only two professional bouts into his record, and Johnson’s advice is aimed at raising the level of preparation as his career develops.

The two have trained and sparred together before. One of their viral workouts ended with Johnson dropping Schuyler with a head kick, an episode that offers a glimpse of their history in the gym. Their past sessions give Johnson a basis for commenting on Schuyler’s development, though his recent remarks centered on the needs he sees before the next fight.

Johnson once dropped WingedC with a head kick during a workout.

A hand injury clouds the next step

Schuyler’s immediate priority is recovery. He said the injury happened at APFC 26, where he fractured multiple bones in his hand. In a post shared after the bout, he described the damage as involving all of his metacarpals and said he would need surgery. He also warned that without treatment he could lose function and struggle to make a fist.

That setback puts a planned bare-knuckle boxing debut in doubt. Schuyler had been scheduled to face Tim Yanc at BKFC Fight Night Hershey on December 4, but the hand injury appears to have put that date at risk. The source gives no recovery timetable, and it remains unclear when he can resume training or compete again.

Schuyler used humor to describe the severity of the injury, joking that breaking his hand after hitting his opponent made him feel like a “peak anime character.” The line lightened the tone of his update, but his comments about surgery and possible loss of function make clear that the damage is serious.

The combination of a first professional win and a major hand injury makes this a complicated moment for Schuyler. The performance gives him a result to build on; the injury interrupts the training Johnson wants him to intensify and may cost him his scheduled bare-knuckle appearance. The next concrete marker is his recovery and whether surgery restores the hand’s function. Until Schuyler can train again, the broader work Johnson outlined will have to wait.

Johnson congratulated both fighters after APFC 26 and returned to his central point: Schuyler should establish a consistent strength and conditioning regime alongside hard pad work and more sparring. For now, his hand will determine when that next stage can begin.