Sean O’Malley’s coach Tim Welch has fired back at those claiming Petr Yan won at UFC 280.
This past Saturday, O’Malley faced his toughest test in former interim bantamweight champion Yan on the main card at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. O’Malley went into the bout as a big underdog and put in an impressive performance to edge out Yan in a razor-think contest by a split decision that many believe could have gone the other way.
Sean O’Malley shares his take to the backlash after UFC 280 win
Following the biggest win of his career, ‘Suga’ Sean shared his thoughts on the controversial result in a post-fight interview with ESPN’s Brett Okamoto backstage.
“I didn’t know how it was going to go,” he said (transcribed by MMA Mania). “It’s so hard, you get cracked, you get rocked, you fight for fifteen minutes. I can’t tell you what happened each minute, I’d have to go back and watch it. So I was just enjoying that moment and whatever happened, happened.”
Going by O’Malley’s response, it appears he wasn’t too confident he would get the nod and needs to watch the fight again to give a more decisive take.
There was a backlash from many proponents of the MMA community, including fellow fighters. One user created a thread with over 25 fighters criticizing O’Malley’s win on Twitter.
Thread of fighters who believe Yan won/was robbed 🧵: pic.twitter.com/xkCZvJKYEo
— Shifting Left Hook (@PoirierEnjoyer) October 22, 2022
Coach Tim Welch bashes ‘hater pu**ies’ for saying Petr Yan won
On Oct. 22, coach Welch took to his Twitter to issue his first message, anticipating the heat O’Malley would receive after a hard-fought victory over the top contender at 135 pounds.
“Let’s hear it h8er pu**ies!’ he wrote.
Let’s hear it h8er pussies! 🙏🏻
— Tim Welch (@TimwelchMT) October 22, 2022
Former UFC two-division champion Henry Cejudo expressed his disapproval of the judging, saying, “Worst robbery I’m UFC history, I hope our sport doesn’t become boxing @danawhite.”
Welch fired back at Cejudo with a GIF of a person bawling his eyes out.
.@HenryCejudo pic.twitter.com/r4Dj7NIXcz
— Tim Welch (@TimwelchMT) October 22, 2022
PFL’s Brendan Loughnane took issue with what he labeled a ‘robbery’ and tweeted, “I’ve been in camp and watched what this guy has sacrificed for this fight. Then you go and steal it on him. Disgrace @ufc.”
Welch delivered a simple response, writing, “let’s see his face.”
let’s see his face
— Tim Welch (@TimwelchMT) October 23, 2022
UFC middleweight Chris Curtis wrote, “All I’ll say is I don’t know a single fighter who scored that for O’Malley…”
Welch replied with a statistical breakdown of the significant strikes landed by both fighters along with a photo of their faces after the fight next to each other.
— Tim Welch (@TimwelchMT) October 23, 2022
Considering how he was being counted out before the match, O’Malley scored a statement win that proved he can hang with the best fighters at the elite level. There were talks of the winner getting a potential title shot but no concrete developments have come yet.
