UFC Hall of Famer Matt Serra doesn’t think Sean O’Malley’s corner showed a way of urgency at UFC 306.
O’Malley (18-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) was outgrappled in a unanimous decision loss to Merab Dvalishvili (18-4 MMA, 11-2 UFC) in last Saturday’s title-fight headliner at Sphere in Las Vegas. Heading into Round 5, O’Malley was down 4 rounds on one among the judges’ scorecards and 3-1 on the opposite two. Serra, who’s one among Dvalishvili’s coaches, criticized Welch for not lighting a hearth under O’Malley when he was clearly losing the fight.
“This fight exposed him as a coach because when your guy is winning and knocking people out, sure, you appear like a f*cking hero,” Serra said on “UFC Unfiltered.” “When your fighter is clearly losing the fight and he starts losing rounds, Tim Welch was, like, not wanting to harm his feelings.
“‘OK, good round.’ No, you’re losing f*cking three rounds! You’ve got to get in his ass. You’ve got to say – he was afraid that he didn’t know how one can handle his guy on that many rounds. And I assumed his f*cking cornerwork was sh*t. So, he exposed himself. You (Dvalishvili) took care of business, and Tim Welch had no answers for his fighter.”
O’Malley later revealed that he tore the labrum in his left hip 10 weeks prior to his fight with Dvalishvili. He’ll undergo surgery on Oct. 3.
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