Demetrious Johnson has given a concerning insight into Sean O’Malley’s UFC 316 fight camp, criticizing his head coach Tim Welch.
This past Saturday at UFC 316 in Newark, New Jersey, Sean O’Malley was handed his second loss in a row, once again being dominated by Merab Dvalishvili who went on to secure the north-south choke in round four to retain his title.
Ahead of their rematch, fans of ‘Suga’ were confident that the 30-year-old had made the adequate adjustments this time around to beat the Georgian, especially as he gave up several vices during his fight camp.
Despite that, ‘The Machine’ once again proved too much for O’Malley, who was subsequently scorned for his lackluster performance.
Demetrious Johnson critical of O’Malley’s coach after helping in fight camp
In an attempt to gain an edge in the UFC 316 main event, the former UFC bantamweight champion drafted in the help of Demetrious Johnson during his fight camp.
Unfortunately for O’Malley, his work with one of the greatest of all time didn’t pay off and Johnson provided his reaction to O’Malley’s loss.
However, now just a few days removed from the blockbuster event, Demetrious Johnson has opened up about his training sessions with O’Malley, and has been slightly critical regarding his head coach, Tim Welch.
“At the very end of the first round, you saw the camera turn, kind of like chaotically as if something was wrong, and you see Merab have that exact same choke he finished Sean with at the end of the first round,” Johnson began to explain in a video on his YouTube channel.
“I was thinking, ‘He’s gonna get that f—— choke.’ Merab is just so good about overwhelming people, that they don’t train to be overwhelmed.
“When I was in Sean’s camp and I was hitting pads with Tim, he goes, ‘You’re constantly overwhelming me’, and I was like, ‘Yeah, because this is realistic in a fight, I’m not gonna sit back and like, pop pop, it’s not realistic.’
“I would assume when they’re training for Merab, I was like, ‘We need people to be all over you for 25 minutes.’ I don’t think Sean took the time or did he have the time to develop that skillset,” Johnson continued.
O’Malley reveals a timeline for his potential return
Despite still being widely regarded as one of the sport’s biggest stars, ‘Suga’ will undoubtedly need to pick up a few wins before he is considered for a title shot again.
And with that, the former UFC bantamweight champion is expecting to make his return to action at the end of the year, highlighting December as a likely return date.