Sean O’Malley’s coach warns Merab Dvalishvili of major flaw: ‘Too close to the fight now to fix’
Sean O’Malley’s head coach, Tim Welch claims he has spotted a significant foil in the gameplan and ability of incoming title challenger, Merab Dvalishvili ahead of Noche UFC next month — claiming it’s likely too late in the day for the Georgian to address now.
O’Malley, the current undisputed bantamweight champion, is slated to return to headline Noche UFC next month — taking on Merab Dvalishvili as part of a title doubleheader at the Las Vegas Sphere — attempting to defend his championship for the second time this year.
Most recently featuring back in March at UFC 299, Montana striker, O’Malley most recently landed a one-sided unanimous decision win over Marlon Vera, avenging his sole professional loss in mixed martial arts competition.
As for Merab Dvalishvili, the Tbilisi grappler turned in a one-sided decision win of his own back in February at UFC 298, dispatching former two-division titleholder, Henry Cejudo over the course of three rounds in the pair’s title eliminator in Anaheim.
Tim Welch breaks down the flaws of Merab Dvalishvili
And engaging in a high-profile spat with O’Malley’s head coach, Welch ahead of Noche UFC, Merab Dvalishvili has been warned of a potential flaw in his ability by the outspoken trainer — which will be too late to address.
“(Merab Dvalishli) loses balance a little bit on the punches,” Tim Welch said on his YouTube channel. “Falls forward and that’s something that definitely could get him in trouble here and it’s too close to the fight now to fix. Really lunging in here, throwing the overhand right, bringing his foot back with him which is another thing that could get you in trouble. You saw it with Aljo (Aljamain Sterling).”
“I’m thankful that I’m not having to be a trainer, training someone against ‘Sugar’ (Sean O’Malley) because it would just be so hard to find sparring partners that can do anything remotely close to him,” Welch explained. “And then you find sparring partners that try to mimic him. They do their best at mimicking him.”
“Merab doesn’t even like, control his breath,” Welch continued. “He doesn’t even think about controlling his breath. He just, he’ll just breathe in, he’ll be mout breathing the whole time and he’ll be able to keep up the pace. That’s one thing that’s scary about him. He’ll be able to just keep up the pace the whole time. Just at that, frantic breathing, frantic pace, that’s one of the things that make him really dangerous.”
