Tim Welch foresees a finish in Merab Dvalishvili vs. Sean O’Malley 2 at UFC 316.
The first title fight between Merab Dvalishvili and Sean O’Malley saw the bantamweights go the distance at UFC 306 last September at the Sphere. Dvalishvili would take home the unanimous decision victory by outwrestling an injured O’Malley.
Following a successful surgery on his torn labrum, O’Malley gets an immediate rematch with Dvalishvili at UFC 316 this Saturday from Newark, New Jersey.
O’Malley has made several lifestyle changes ahead of the title opportunity and has trained with former champions Israel Adesanya and Demetrious Johnson.
Manning the helm of his training camp is head coach Tim Welch, who has prepared O’Malley for a five-round war with more of a focus on grappling and wrestling.
Welch is confident his fighter will get his hand raised after putting ‘Suga’ through ‘hell’ this fight camp.
Tim Welch sees Sean O’Malley cutting Merab Dvalishvili’s face open for TKO finish
Facing off against the seemingly unstoppable cardio machine Dvalishvili, Welch doesn’t expect the title rematch to be easy but has high hopes O’Malley gets the job done this time around.
“It’s gonna be a war,” Welch said of Dvalishvili vs. O’Malley 2 on his YouTube channel.
“We’re planning for a 25-minute battle, but I see Sean cutting his face,” Welch added.
“I see him cutting his face open. Merab shooting at the wrong time. Merab maybe getting wobbled by a shot, taking a shot at the wrong time, getting knee’d up the middle to the lips, maybe to the beak.
“[O’Malley] knees his beak, hurts Merab. Boom, boom, boom… boom. And he starts just to ground and pound. TKO, Sugar Show gets it done. He’s a champion again,” Welch said of O’Malley.
“We got our hands full. We’re prepared…”
Merab Dvalishvili has never been knocked out in his career
Across 23 professional fights, Dvalishvili has never been KO’ed by strikes.
We’ve seen Dvalishvili rocked in the UFC before in fights against Marlon Moraes and Henry Cejudo but ‘The Machine’ has shown an insane ability to recover.
Dvalishvili was hurt to the body by O’Malley in the final round of their fight at UFC 306. Several fighters like Demetrious Johnson, Aiemann Zahabi and Dan Hardy believe Dvalishvili’s mid-section could be exposed with more teep kicks and shots to the body from O’Malley.
Will O’Malley’s body shots and diverse striking arsenal be enough to stop Dvalishvili? Time will tell at UFC 316 this weekend.