Aljamain Sterling has fired shots at Sean O’Malley’s coach Tim Welch after the UFC bantamweight champ’s heated face-off with Merab Dvalishvili.
A lot has changed since O’Malley beat Sterling to win the bantamweight title at UFC 292. ‘The Funk Master’ has moved up to featherweight, whereas ‘Suga’ recently made a successful title defense against Marlon Vera. He is now scheduled to lock horns with Aljo’s teammate Dvalishvili at Noche UFC.
In the lead-up to the O’Malley vs Dvalishvili fight, both camps have begun exchanging verbal jabs. However, the Georgian fighter isn’t pleased with O’Malley’s coach, Welch, getting involved and taking shots at his opponents. During a recent face-off, Dvalishvili warned O’Malley to rein in Welch.
Sterling agrees with Dvalishvili.
“Merab just is who he is, and if something bothers him or something annoys him, he’s going to call you out on it,” Sterling said during a recent episode of The MMA Hour. “I think that’s all he was doing, was making it known how he felt. Like dude, your coach is your coach, your coach shouldn’t be getting involved in things like this and talking shit to the fighters. I commented that, and Tim Welch, for the second time, said he wasn’t talking shit, but there is evidence that we saw which is what got us annoyed.
“Like yo, are you the coach or are you the fighter? Because if you want to be the fighter and start talking shit the same way Henry Cejudo’s camp was going, you make things a little bit different when interactions are involved. If you’re going to sit here and talk shit, when there’s a street beef or interaction that occurs, you’re now part of the mess. So you do your job, make sure these guys get to the fight, and don’t be the one instigating because you might be the one to get your face [punched].”
