“We’re almost done with this,” those five words were said to Sean O’Malley by his coach Tim Welch after four hard rounds against restless title challenger Merab Dvalishvili.
Four years undefeated no more is O’Malley, losing his bantamweight championship via unanimous decision to Dvalishvili. “Suga” was unable to close the show on the feet, instead getting taken down over and over again by the pressure-heavy grappler.
Welch Says Round 5 Advice Came Out The Wrong Way”
Following the loss, O’Malley along with coach Tim Welch have received their fair share of criticism online for what transpired on fight night, including Welch’s corner work or perhaps lack thereof in round 5 that was caught on the broadcast.
Perfect advice to give your fighter who’s down 4-0 and about to lose his belt pic.twitter.com/vE42vsv9fT
— Dylan♿️ (@EdwardsSZN_2) September 15, 2024
“It came out the wrong way,” Welch told ESPN MMA. “I meant to say, ‘We’re almost done with this, like you’re gonna clip him at any time…’ Also, I’ve known Sean for 12 years. I know what’s going through his mind and keeping him confident. I always forget those cameras are rolling on my mic and stuff. I want to keep his head in it. It sounded way worse than it actually was… it just came out the wrong way and sounded stupid.”
Welch Gives Dvalishvili His Props
While Welch didn’t give the most motivational speech to mount a comeback against Dvalishvili, it was obvious by round 5 that Dvalishvili had O’Malley outmatched on the ground with the champion’s only chances of retaining a last-minute knockout, one that didn’t come as O’Malley didn’t pull the trigger nearly enough in the final round, though he did manage to hurt Dvalishvili with a nasty kick to the body that got his attention.
O’Malley is the fourth champion on Dvalishvili’s current 11-fight win streak.
“We knew Merab was gonna be an issue like that,” Welch said. “I didn’t really expect him to be shooting into double legs and crawling up to the hips. In in none of his previous fights, he’s always sticking to a high crotch. He’s always sticking to a single leg. He just showed up and he looked good.
There’s just really no excuses. He showed up. He was a machine. He had great timing on his shots. I didn’t expect him to have that good a timing on his shots.”
Suga’s Road To Recovery
A new title reign begun for Merab Dvalishvili at bantamweight, it’s off to the sidelines for Sean O’Malley as the now former champion is set for surgery on his torn labrum on Oct. 3, he told Adin Ross.
“We’ll be able to finally get back to real grappling practices like we used to in previous years. The past year we’ve been able to do just little bits, little probably 10-second goes, 15-second goes from the ground. That’s all really his hip and his back could handle. So getting that fixed and getting back to real grappling practices, real jiu-jitsu, real wrestling practices, I’m excited for that,” Welch said of O’Malley’s upcoming hip surgery.
