Sean O’Malley’s coach Tim Welch is flattered by the comparisons that his fighter has received to Irish megastar Conor McGregor.
UFC 292 saw the rise of a new bantamweight world champion as ‘Sugar’ delivered perhaps the knockout of the year against one of the greatest 135-pounders in the history of the division, Aljamain Sterling. O’Malley dispatched the ‘Funk Master’ in the second round of their main event title tilt inside Boston’s iconic TD Garden with a brilliantly-timed counter right that sent Sterling crashing to the canvas face first.
Immediately following the strike and subsequent victory, O’Malley’s method of victory was compared to Conor McGregor’s legendary 13-second knockout of Jose Aldo at UFC 194.
The last 3 UFC PPV’s have ended in violence 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/A0RTBTMCSN
— Homelander MMA (@HomelanderMMA) August 22, 2023
Speaking with James Lynch in a MiddleEasy exclusive interview, Tim Welch was thrilled to see O’Malley’s rise to stardom be compared with the work of Conor McGregor.
“I mean, that’s just a huge compliment. He’s made the most money,” Welch said. “Probably double what any UFC fighter’s ever made. And even on fight day, a lot of fight days we watch Conor. The way he handles… He’s been in so many big pressure situations and the way he handles it, he’s definitely been a big inspiration for both of us. We take it as a compliment.”
O’Malley > Mcgregor pic.twitter.com/4uFZBqt8pg
— Top MMA Content (@TopMMAContent) August 20, 2023
Asked which knockout he thought was better between O’Malley’s second-round shellacking of Aljamain Sterling or McGregor’s sub-one-minute KO of Jose Aldo, it’s probably no surprise which one Tim Welch went with. Though the reasoning for it may not be what you’re thinking.
“I think the one against ‘Sugar’ and Aljo was just a little bit sweeter because Aljo was such a monster grappler,” Welch revealed. I mean, it was awesome obviously because Jose [Aldo] was the man back then, but they were still both strikers, but the comparison was pretty crazy. It was almost weird how close those looked.”
He added, “When they put those two punches side-by-side, it’s almost creepy how similar it is.”
