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Sean O'Malley's coach Tim Welch has shared his thoughts on 'Sugar's upcoming matchup against Petr Yan at UFC 280.
In a recent interview with The Schmo, Welch said that O'Malley will face the best version of 'No Mercy'. Giving reasoning for his statement, the coach said that Yan would not like to lose to a person with pink hair and thus, would be fully prepared for the fight:
"We're gonna see the best Petr Yan there is. He's a f**king terminator. The last person he wants to lose to is the pink poodle. So, he's gonna come ready to go but we'll be ready to go also."
In the interview, Welch also said that if 'Sugar' wins, he deserves to be next in line for a title shot.
Watch the full Tim Welch interview with The Schmo below:
O'Malley will be making a huge jump in competition in his matchup against 'No Mercy'. In his last encounter, the 27-year-old took on Pedro Munhoz, who is currently ranked number eight in the bantamweight rankings. The fight ended in a no-contest as Munhoz was unable to continue due to an accidental eye poke by O'Malley.
'Sugar' will now face the former champion and the No.1-ranked bantamweight in the UFC. So, a win over the Russian could possibly propel O'Malley into a title fight.
Sean O'Malley would prefer his fight against Petr Yan to stay on the feet
Sean O'Malley is not underestimating Petr Yan's grappling skills and thus wants the fight to be more of a kickboxing match.
In a recent interview with The Schmo, O'Malley said that he would get equal satisfaction in submitting 'No Mercy' as he would in knocking him out. However, after watching Yan's defense on the ground against Aljamain Sterling, he would prefer the fight to stay on the feet.
"I would get the same satisfaction choking out Petr Yan [as knocking him out] but I definitely I just see this being a sweet kickboxing match. I've said that since the fight's been announced. Aljamain's grappling is extremely high level and for 'Aljo' to take Petr's back and have that defense shows how good Petr is with being able to defend Aljo from choking him."
You can watch the full Sean O'Malley interview below:
Sean O'Malley certainly has power in his hands as can be seen from his previous fights. Out of his 15 career wins, 11 have come via knockout. Yan, on the other hand, has never been knocked out or submitted in his career.
