Merab Dvalishvili is still not finding the humor in Tim Welch’s innovative coaching methods during his world title win.
The Georgian took the bantamweight title from Welch’s charge Sean O’Malley at UFC 306, but the fight had barely started when the coach was up to his old tricks. He famously did an impression of coach Ray Longo when Aljamain Sterling was facing O’Malley that is believed to have led to him losing the belt.
However, Dvalishvili was wise to his game and immediately called for referee Herb Dean to stop his antics when he tried the same move seconds into the UFC 306 main event. This all was documented in a viral video that emerged this weekend in the lead up to the champion’s first defence at UFC 311.
- WHO IS SEAN O’MALLEY? Meet the UFC superstar with a Suga-ry taste for success
Tim Welch’s unconventional coaching against Merab Dvalishvili went viral
As the promotion began in earnest for UFC 311 for Merab Dvalishvili’s first world title defence, fans were asked to cast their mind back to his historic title win. A record-breaking gate was earned as around 20,000 packed into the new Las Vegas Sphere venue after a dramatic build-up.
O’Malley was ultimately overmatched by Dvalishvili’s impressive wrestling and lost his belt in a relatively uneventful contest. In fact, one of the highlights came in the first few seconds when the American’s coach Tim Welch used his cheeky tactic of impressions to try and distract the challenger.
However, Dvalishvili was wise to it, and new footage the UFC have posted from fight night has shown that he made it clear to Herb Dean that a rule was being broken. Welch did something similar against his teammate Sterling, and it is believed it caused him to attack and commit himself unnecessarily.
Merab Dvalishvili was not impressed by Sean O’Malley’s corner at UFC 306
These antics did not impress Dvalishvili at all, and he is still not really seeing the humor behind the tactic. He believes it was dirtiness on his rival’s part, and ultimately not in the spirit of MMA competition.
Speaking with Bloody Elbow in an exclusive chat as part of his role as Stake Ambassador, Dvalishvili explained: “No, it’s already passed, you know, they were trying to make something work. They tried to do shortcuts and now everybody must realise don’t do this.
“Just work, man. Just try to beat me properly, don’t do this dirty stuff, don’t do it. This is bullshit, man. This is not how you want to win the belt, to distract me, disrespect me. I’m a real guy. You talk to me, you give me love, I give you love. You give me hate, I’m gonna slap your ass, you know?”
Merab Dvalishvili also feels Umar Nurmagomedov has taken shortcuts
And O’Malley isn’t the only one who Dvalishvili feels has taken shortcuts on their route to the world title. He also believes that Umar Nurmagomedov has been gifted a shot at the belt after just one major win at bantamweight.
“I have never said that he’s not a good fighter,” he added. “I say he’s a good fighter, but he takes shortcuts, you know. He cheated a little bit because he was fighting nobodies and guys on their debut.
“And then from debut guy, he fought number two, you know, that’s, that’s a gift and that’s a shortcut. And that’s not how you want to earn your title fight. That’s not right. In my opinion, he was supposed to fight one more. Maybe against Song Yadong.
“But once the UFC asked me, I said, okay, I will fight him. But I wanted to fight in February or March. But that’s what I said. Why don’t I like him? Because he called me a fake champion. Also, he was disrespectful towards my country.”
- Who is Khabib Nurmagomedov? Inside the life of the most dominant UFC fighter of all time
from Bloody Elbow https://ift.tt/ezLmtib