Head coach Tim Welch reveals ONE area of the fight game where Sean O’Malley needs to improve

Sean O'Malley's head coach Tim Welch says that O'Malley's grappling skills is where the UFC champion can improve on.

Head coach Tim Welch reveals ONE area of the fight game where Sean O’Malley needs to improve

Sean O'Malley (Via UFC)

Sean O’Malley‘s longtime coach Tim Welch thinks that O’Malley can improve his ground game a lot. Welch recently revealed to Demetrious Johnson that people have not seen how good O’Malley is in this department and how much he can improve. Here is what happened:

Tim Welch recently sat down with Demetrious Johnson on his YouTube channel. One of the things that Johnson asked Welch was what were some of the things he felt his athletes especially Sean O’Malley could improve on. To this, Tim Welch said: 

For my other athletes, it’s just all the simple stuff. For Sean, he’s not even close to how good he could be at jiu-jitsu and he’s good at jiu-jitsu, he’s got a brown belt…He’s got very dangerous front headlocks, he’s very flexible, his guard is very dangerous but it’s not as dangerous as it could be.
Tim Welch via MIGHTY
YouTube video

At UFC 299, O’Malley relied heavily on his striking abilities to land hard right crosses and left hands. He even managed to sneak in a brutal right knee up the middle that hurt Marlon Vera badly in the second round. Welch praised O’Malley’s durability for being able to go the full distance the way he did with Vera. He said that the people have not even seen how good O’Malley’s grappling is and how confident and dangerous he is in the submissions he can execute.

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‘Suga’ has a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) from Augusto “Tanquinho” Mendes. O’Malley has competed in many grappling contests such as Quintet Ultra and Grappling Industries. He has also been a regular competitor in high-level grappling tournaments when he is not in the octagon. O’Malley’s fighting style is heavily based on his striking skills. However, according to his coach’s statements, people may soon get to see O’Malley executing some dangerous submissions in his upcoming fights.

Sean O’Malley hints at taking on Merab Dvalishvili next

Sean O’Malley is ready to take on Merab Dvalishvili in an upcoming UFC bout. He hinted at the possibility of fighting Dvalishvili next, acknowledging the fan demand and agreeing that Dvalishvili deserves the next shot at the bantamweight title. This is much to the delight of the Georgian who had raised concerns about Suga’s callout of Topuria instead of him after UFC 299.

Sean O'Malley jibes at Henry Cejudo and reveals he is to fight Merab Dvalishvili next
Sean O’Malley jibes at Henry Cejudo and hints at fighting Merab Dvalishvili next (via Imago)

O’Malley recently threw shade at former bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo on X. O’Malley wrote that he loves beating the fighters Cejudo could not beat. Cejudo’s last fight was against Dvalishvili at UFC 298. He lost the fight via unanimous decision.

O’Malley had previously addressed that he would take on Dvalishvili even though he is more interested in taking on Ilia Topuria. However, Topuria declined to fight O’Malley anytime soon. And according to Dvalishvili, UFC CEO Dana White has given him the green light to get ready for a title shot next.

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