Former UFC champ Matt Serra criticized Sean O’Malley’s coach Tim Welch for inadequate cornering during O’Malley’s loss to Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 306, attributing the defeat partly to Welch’s failure to effectively manage and motivate his fighter.
Former UFC champ Matt Serra wasn’t impressed with Sean O’Malley’s coach, Tim Welch, at UFC 306.
Merab Dvalishvili defeated O’Malley to capture the bantamweight title in the main event of the promotion’s debut card at Sphere in Las Vegas. Serra, who has cornered Dvalishvili on numerous occasions, reacted to the fight on his UFC Unfiltered podcast with comedian Jim Norton.
“This fight exposed him as a coach,” Serra said. “When your guy is winning and knocking people out, sure, you look like a f*cking superhero. But when your fighter is losing — and starts losing rounds — Tim Welch was, like, not wanting to hurt [O’Malley’s] feelings. ‘OK, good round,’ no, you’re losing f*cking three rounds. You got to get in his ass.”
He added, “He was afraid that he did not know how to handle his guy [with] that many rounds, and I thought his f*cking corner work was shit.”
“So he exposed himself. [Dvalishvili] took care of business and Tim Welch had no answers for his fighter.”
O’Malley admitted he had “zero excuses” for his performance afterward. He mentioned taking an extended break following the second loss of his pro career.
“Sugar” then revealed he suffered a torn labrum and will undergo surgery on Oct. 3.