UFC champion trainer Tim Welch defends Conor McGregor over his late-night partying videos, only a few weeks out from his gigantic return fight.
As speculation surrounding the main event of UFC 303 continues to swell online, not everyone within the global MMA community is convinced that the videos of Conor McGregor partying deep into the night are as detrimental to his training as many believe.
Coach Tim Welch defends Conor McGregor’s late-night partying
Breaking down both the recent drama surrounding Conor McGregor’s late-night partying videos and the series of sparring footage clips posted online, UFC champion trainer Tim Welch argued that it’s okay for ‘Notorious’ to be letting loose so close to his return fight.
“The videos coming out of Conor with his wife at the club partying and letting loose a little bit – who knows if he’s partying, he’s probably having a couple of drinks here and there.
“But when you’re in a long training camp, people think you’re just going to train and go sit in your room and stare at the wall thinking about the fight.”
As noted by Welch, drawing on his own experience training UFC bantamweight king Sean O’Malley, there is a key difference between letting off some steam amid an intense training camp and becoming distracted from the monotony of a training regimen.
“‘Think about the fight, sit in your room, just stare at the wall, go to training, sit in your room, stare at the wall, think about the fight’ – It’s okay to let loose a little bit,” Welch said, before noting that there might have been on overreaction within the community to the party videos.
“Go let loose and not think about the fight, you’re not going to die because you go out and stay up past midnight one night… He’s letting loose, he’s Conor McGregor, he’s good. Whatever happens, he’s good.”
Yet Welch is acutely aware that whilst McGregor is out enjoying life as the world’s biggest combat sports superstar, his UFC 303 opponent is spending his time preparing for his own ‘Notorious’ upset.
“Michael Chandler is going to bring it, he’s an explosive Division One wrestler and he’s training at a really good gym. Going against Conor McGregor, both of these guys are 1-3 in their last four so it’s a super even matchup [and a] winnable fight for both.”
Coach Welch offers key insight into sparring footage montage
Given his immense experience training the best MMA athletes in the game, it’s not surprising that Welch had some fascinating insights into the recent sparring footage clips.
“Still sharpening up his left hand, he’s looking in shape… It doesn’t look like that left leg’s bothering him at all. You can tell it’s a little bit atrophied still [and] it’s definitely a little smaller.
“Looks like they’re timing the left knee when Michael Chandler’s stepping in for a right hand – that’s going to be a good option.”
Welch then identified that throughout the clips, the sparring partners seemed to be “a little bit scared, and a little bit intimidated by him” as McGregor appeared to be “stalking them down, hunting them down.”
The veteran trainer explained how sometimes being able to work with those types of sparring partners can be beneficial for someone like McGregor who thrives on having unshakable confidence in his skillset.
“Sometimes tuning everybody up, everyone’s scared of you, then you get in this cage with this high level of confidence and go out there and piece them up.”
“Compare that to training with really good guys all the time, and you’re getting beat up all the time… They’re taking you down. They’re submitting you. Then you go in that cage not near as confident. There’s some pluses and minuses to both.”
Interestingly, many of these same sentiments were notably echoed by former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping, who said of the sparring videos that ‘Notorious’ is finally “looking like the old Conor McGregor.”
UFC 303 is scheduled to go down on Saturday, June 29th live from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.