The coach of Sean O’Malley, Tim Welch, is highly confident in his fighter’s chances at UFC 280. ‘Sugar’ has a challenging fight ahead of him facing the former undisputed bantamweight champion Petr Yan, of Russia.
Trainer Welch recently sat down in an interview with Submission Radio and laid out just how skilled his fighter is in the gym. Welch explained:
“We train with super elite people. We train with very good strikers too. And all the people that he (Sean O’Malley) spars that are that size, he makes them look stupid. And Petr’s (Yan) probably a little bit on another level than a lot of them, and he’s gonna be really tough.”
He added that he doubts ‘No Mercy’ Petr Yan will be able to keep up with ‘Sugar.’ Tim Welch continued:
“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 (O’Malley) could make Petr look stupid.” [Transcript courtesy of BJ Penn.com]
See the full interview below:
Sean O’Malley backed to knockout Petr Yan at UFC 280
Tim Welch is confident enough in O’Malley’s height advantage that he said the US-born athlete will likely win via knockout. He added:
“When I really think about it, and I really think of the size difference, and I really think of how Petr really lunges in on his punches, and I feel like he’s gonna get kind of frustrated and really have to take a risk, and I think Sean might KO him.”
Russia’s Petr Yan is an impressive fighter. ‘No Mercy’ has notable wins against fighters such as Cory Sandhagen, José Aldo, and Urijah Faber, among others. He was the former undisputed champion at bantamweight but lost in his to unify the titles against current kingpin, Aljamain Sterling.
‘Sugar’ Sean O’Malley is one of the most popular athletes currently in the UFC. The US-born fighter has won nearly 75% of his fights by way of KO/TKO. With a singular loss in MMA to Marlon Vera, he remained nearly undefeated in the UFC. Most recently, he is coming off a ‘No Contest’ fight against Pedro Munhoz.
UFC 280 will see O’Malley take a large step up in competition as he is ranked no. 12 officially while Yan is ranked no. 1. But, O’Malley’s coach Tim Welch has unbreakable confidence in this matchup.