Tim Welch, the coach for UFC contender Sean O’Malley, believes he could be in prime position come UFC 280.
O’Malley will face former champion Petr Yan at the October 22 event from Abu Dhabi. The bantamweight title will be on the line that night in the main event when Aljamain Sterling defends vs. T.J. Dillashaw.
As for Welch, he feels O’Malley is ready for another coming out party.
“We train with a super elite people. We train with very good strikers too,” Welch said. “And all the people that he spars that are that size, he makes ’em look stupid. And Petr’s probably a little bit on another level than a lot of them, and he’s gonna be really tough.
“But, a big cage and the size difference and the speed difference and the accuracy of Sean and how good he is at punching at range, I think it’s gonna be, the closer we get, I feel like Sean could make Petr look stupid.
““We’re planning on him not having any mental gaps. We’re planning on him being a durable terminator for 15 minutes. He’s not gonna really have any mental weaknesses. In the Aljamain fight he made a couple of tactical errors. That’s all it was. So, we’re planning on him to be ready to fucking go for 15 minutes. It’s just gonna be whoever makes a mistake first.”
The 27-year-old has gone 3-0 with a no-contest since a 2020 loss to Marlon Vera. That includes finishes of Thomas Almeida, Kris Moutinho and Raulian Paiva.
“Yeah, they probably just don’t really understand the sport a lot, and they don’t understand the different style matchups, and a lot of ’em just see Sean knocking these guys out and they think it’s a lucky punch,” Welch said. “They don’t see it’s a calculated punch at the end of his punch, and everything’s just super calculated and perfect and precise. They don’t see him punching backwards. And not a lot of people can punch with knockout power moving backwards.
“And Sean can. So, they don’t see those little things. But like I said, Petr, he’s a motherfucker, he’s a beast. He’s a beast in the clinch and he’s just a beast everywhere. He’s very, very durable. But Sean’s prepared mentally and physically to punch him for 15 minutes and move around and punch him for 15 minutes. And now that he’s getting older, he’s getting a lot more durable, he’s turned into a man.
“So, I think it’s the perfect time for the match, and we’re going into the fight very confident.”
Overall, O’Malley is 15-1 with a no-contest, with a dozen finishes.
Check out the complete interview with Submission Radio below:
