Tim Welch admits he had to pull out every trick in the book while cornering Sean O’Malley against Aljamain Sterling.
O’Malley (18–3 MMA, 10–3 UFC) knocked out Sterling (25–5 MMA, 17–5 UFC) at UFC 292 in 2023 to become the UFC bantamweight champion. Throughout the opening round of the bout at TD Garden in Boston, Welch could be heard shouting instructions to O’Malley’s opponent in a bizarre attempt to throw him off his game.
Welch revealed that he resorted to those tactics in an effort to get into Sterling’s head and distract “Funkmaster” from his game plan.
“That was the most stress I've ever been (under) for a fight because we're going against this monster in Aljamain Sterling,” Welch told Overdogs Podcast. “He's huge. He's a grappler. If he takes your back, especially someone skinny like Sean, he's going to get a body triangle and break your spine. I'm like, ‘we gotta pull out every trick in the book.’
“That clip went viral, so everyone's talking about it so much, but that's not the first time a coach has talked to the other side and tried to get in their head a little bit. And I've been in the ring before where (an opposing) coach was talking to me, telling me exactly what I was going to do. And it severely (messed) with my mind so I was just trying to get Aljo to slow down from coming forward so hard, I wanted (him) to really worry about a flying knee up the middle and if anybody has a guy, if you ask coach, if you have your brother who you've grown up with in this cage, and you know you can say a little something to affect that other guy, if you're a coach, you say, 'I wouldn't do it.' Then it's like, 'What the hell?' I don't want you as my coach.”
