UFC bantamweight Sean O’Malley has been gunning for the 135-pound title for a long time. O’Malley’s head coach, Tim Welch, knows this as well as anyone, but even he admitted that O’Malley’s long-awaited title shot might be coming all too quickly for the reigning champ, Aljamain Sterling.
Welch discussed Sterling’s recent complaints about his treatment at the hands of the UFC – namely defending his title twice in three months – in a recent interview with The MMA Hour.
Sean O’Malley’s Coach Admits UFC 292 “Kind of Sucks” For Aljamain Sterling
“It does kind of suck for Aljo, just having to get pushed in there and not really getting a say. But the UFC knows what they’re doing. The UFC knows what they’re doing. I just try to stay out of that. But I do see Aljo going off about, ‘Who is the smarter one?’
Taking all these fights. I’d be curious to see who made more money in those months. I know Aljo fought three times and ‘Sugar’ only fought [during] that [time] once, but still. With his brand deals, with his merch company, I wouldn’t be surprised if they made a similar amount of money. So really, who is the smarter one?”
Welch acknowledged that the champ has fought three times in the same space of time that has seen his star pupil fight once. Is “ring rust” going to be a factor heading into UFC 292? Probably not, considering O’Malley’s previous level of activity. “He was putting together a lot of fights back to back, a lot of camps back to back, and his body was beat down.
It’s been 10 years of him fighting constantly, besides that little two-year suspension, so giving his body time to heal and rest and still stay disciplined — he wanted to fight. He wanted to fight earlier than that, but the UFC just kind of was like, ‘Let’s wait around for it.’
I don’t think it was bad because now his body is healed up, he’s ready for this training camp. It’s going to be a long one against Aljo and his body is ready for it.” Predictably, Welch is expecting a new bantamweight champ come the end of the UFC 292 main event.
“Sugar’s reaction times are so good and if you make a mistake striking — look at Petr Yan, how high his guard is and how sharp of a striker he was, and ‘Sugar’ was able to find his chin and drop him.
I just cannot see — I think ‘Sugar’ is going to crack him. I think he’s going to hurt him, wobble him, and Aljo’s going to take a s***** shot and [O’Malley is] going to put him to sleep, one way or another.”
