Despite having a Georgian wrecking ball in his crosshairs, Sean O’Malley and his team are already plotting his next bantamweight title fight as another undefeated Nurmagomedov moves into title contention.
Undefeated star Umar Nurmagomedov made a statement this weekend in Abu Dhabi as he bested fan-favorite bantamweight Cory Sandhagen over 25 minutes of high-level MMA action – now, he’s next in line for a shot at Suga’s world championship title.
Coach Tim Welch on Umar Nurmagomedov’s win at UFC Abu Dhabi
Out of all the eyes that were firmly fixed on Abu Dhabi this weekend, the pair that were watching the most intently were those of UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley and his head trainer Tim Welch.
Speaking to Submission Radio’s Denis Shkuratov, Welch shared how he was impressed with the timing and discipline of the undefeated Nurmagomedov, whose victory against one of the most dangerous men in the entire division never really looked in doubt over the 25 minutes.
“[It was] his first time fighting someone in the Top 10 and taking on Cory Sadhagen who is a monster, an expert striker, an expert with his grappling and I was a little bit surprised with how good Umar’s timing was.
“His timing on his takedowns was so good and he was getting into his double legs, single legs, high-crotches – Cory did defend him early on and when you defend someone’s shots like that early on, it can break people mentally.”
As per the UFC stats page, not only did Umar score five big takedowns as he racked up some five minutes of control time, but he surprisingly out-struck Sandhagen 98 to 71 on significant strikes.
“He kept up the pace, he stayed sharp, and disciplined for five rounds,” said Welch, celebrating the fact that for such a young competitor as Umar, who only turned 28 years old earlier this year, a win of this magnitude is enormous for his title aspirations.
“That’s a huge win for him, a huge statement in his hometown too. Now he’s 18-0 and probably move into the Top 3 in the bantamweight division. That was definitely surprising by him, and it just shows how skilled he is.”
Welch and O’Malley on potential title fight against Umar Nurmagomedov
Whilst ‘Suga’ is deep in preparation for his title fight against the ‘Machine’ Merab Dvalishvili, which is scheduled for September at The Sphere for UFC 306, the O’Malley team knows that their next challenger will likely be in the form of the now 18-0 Russian.
“Umar is well-rounded, kicks a lot, trains with the Nurmagomedov’s and he’s a serious problem for sure,” noted Welch, poignantly adding how such a ‘serious problem’ isn’t something that O’Malley will shy away from, in fact, quite the opposite.
“For Sean, he always wants the biggest fights that are going to bring the most eyes and the biggest challenge,” and following Merab Dvalishvili, that next ‘biggest challenge’ would surely be the cousin of lightweight legend Khabib.
“Right now, [it’s all about] Merab – two undefeated guys, and having a Nurmagomedov name, that’s a huge challenge and something that gets Sean fired up because if he KO’d Umar, that would just put him on another level again.”
Sean O’Malley himself would react to the unanimous decision win at UFC Abu Dhabi via his YouTube channel only a few hours after the event concluded.
“Incredible performance – that’s as high-level of a fight as it gets,” stated the undisputed king of the 135lb division, teasing a potential title fight between the two would certainly be one way to get one over on rival Conor McGregor.
“Me vs Umar next, question mark, hashtag ‘We’ll See, LOL’… Undefeated Umar 18-0 versus undefeated Suga Show 19-0, beat a Dagestanian – I wouldn’t mind that, that’d be a real good way to get at Conor.
“Imagine how jealous he would be – I might just go whoop Umar just for that reason alone; it could be a potential massive next fight.”
Sean O’Malley returns to action on September 14, in the main event of UFC 306 at The Sphere in Las Vegas.