Sean O’Malley’s longtime coach and podcast partner, Tim Welch, has some concerns about the sparring partners that Conor McGregor has been working with in the leadup to his quote-unquote “greatest comeback in combat sports history.”
As it stands, the Irish megastar is scheduled to step back inside the Octagon on June 29 for a long-awaited clash with fellow TUF coach and former Bellator champion Michael Chandler. Recently, ‘Mystic Mac’ released sparring footage on social media, and while Welch is undeniably impressed with how McGregor looks in the footage, he does have some concerns over the quality of the sparring partners he’s using.
“Still sharpening up his left hand, he’s looking in shape,” Welch said during a recent episode of the TimboSugarShow. “It doesn’t look like that left leg’s bothering him at all. I mean, you can tell it’s a little bit atrophied still. It’s definitely a little smaller. Looks like they’re timing the left knee when Michael Chandler’s stepping in for a right hand. That’s gonna be a good option.”
“I don’t know these guys he’s sparring. You can’t see who they are with headgear. I mean, they’re probably not going to be near the athlete Michael Chandler is. And it looks like in some of these sparring videos that some of these guys are a little bit scared of him. A little bit scared, and a little bit intimidated by him, and he’s stalking them down, hunting them down.”
“Sometimes that can be good. When you’re fighting and you’re the man in the room and you’re tuning everybody up, everyone’s scared of you, then you get in this cage with this high level of confidence and go out there and piece them up.
“Compare that to training with really good guys all the time, and you’re getting beat up all the time, and you’re maybe winning some rounds, maybe not winning some rounds. They’re taking you down. They’re submitting you. Then you go in that cage not near as confident. There’s some pluses and minuses to both.”
