Merab Dvalishvili tells his side of the story on controversial exchange with Sean O'Malley's corner: "It’s a shame how disrespectful they are"
Merab Dvalishvili recently opened up about his encounter with Sean O'Malley's team during their title fight at Noche UFC 306. Dvalishvili slammed O'Malley's team for being disrespectful and lacking sportsmanship.
Shortly after the fight started, Dvalishvili defended O'Malley's attacks while drawing attention to O'Malley's coach Tim Welch shouting at him outside the octagon. This prompted the referee, Herb Dean, to quickly step in and pause the fight. Welch was subsequently warned for 'excessive coaching.'
Check out the post below (via Championship Rounds on X):
This is not the first time Welch has attempted to instigate the opposing fighter, as during O'Malley's title fight with Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292, he seemingly shouted instructions to 'Funk Master' to be more active, which might have cost the champion the fight on the night.
Dvalishvili, who is a longtime friend and training partner of Sterling, recently took to X and slammed O'Malley's team for their antics, writing:
''Everyone is asking what happened at start of fight - I was trying to stay professional and focus on the fight only, not wanting to change the energy of the fight. I made no eye contact with O'Malleys team. But when the fight started I hear his team calling out to me - Merab.. trying to coach , provoke and distract me. I yelled back at them cut it out and coach your own guy. I remembered they pulled the same crap with Aljo. Not professional... This is the way they want their Fighter to win. It’s a shame how disrespectful they are and that they have zero sportsmanship!''
Tim Welch discusses Merab Dvalishvili's reaction
Sean O'Malley's coach, Tim Welch, recently expressed his thoughts on the heated moment between him and Merab Dvalishvili during the Noche UFC 306 main event this past weekend.
In the first few exchanges of the title fight, Welch's remarks infuriated Dvalishvili. Referee Herb Dean had to intervene and caution the fighter-turned-coach, who has now shared his side of the story.
In a recent video uploaded on his YouTube channel, Welch explained what happened between him and Dvalishvili.
''First round, [Dvalishvili] comes out, and what I said to Merab was 'Merab, you need to be patient.' And that's when he freaked out. Started bucking himself around. And I was like, holy cow I just said, 'Merab, be patient.' He must have been anticipating that a little bit, but I really wasn't going of my way to 'blah blah blah' yell but I did say that and I guess there is an excessive coaching."
Check out Tim Welch's comments below (1:55):