Tim Welch isn’t surprised that Vera is reacting poorly to his one-sided loss to O’Malley considering what ‘Chito’ said to him in the cage following the fight.
Sean O’Malley didn’t just beat Marlon Vera at UFC 299, he outclassed the tough Ecuadorian contender in a masterclass of movement that blanked “Chito” on the scorecards.
Following the loss, Vera came out and accused “Suga” of greasing, which didn’t make much sense to O’Malley’s coach Tim Welch.
“He’s probably still concussed. He’s probably got a concussion,” Welch told James Lynch in a recent interview. “And when you have concussions — I’ve had concussions in my life — and you start thinking crazy, you start saying crazy things. So yeah he’s probably dealing with some pretty bad — his brain’s probably swelled up so it’s not really thinking correctly.”
“It would be different if he was trying to take him down a bunch or trying to grab his legs and do something and complaining about greasing. But yeah, that was kind of out of pocket there.”
Welch noted that “Chito” was extremely salty about the loss from the get-go.
“After the fight we always try to be as respectful as possible,” he said. “I tried to shake Chito’s hand and tell him, ‘God, you are a warrior. Keep your head up. Keep going.’ And he just shook my hand and said ‘We’ll never be friends.’”
“I think he’s just bitter. You see Sean, the way he dresses, the way he acts, the way all this happens and then you get your a— whooped by him? It’s got to sting, sting really deep.”
While Vera may be having a hard time moving on, Team O’Malley is already thinking about their next opponent. That will most likely be Merab Dvalishvili, and while Welch did suggest a quick turnaround could be possible if the UFC wanted O’Malley for International Fight Week, they have a later return date in mind.
“I know he was talking about September,” Welch said. “So September for a title defense could be perfect.”