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Sean O'Malley has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons following his victory over Petr Yan at UFC 280. His coach, Tim Welch, seems to be taking the criticism in stride though.
The bout was incredibly close, with both fighters landing huge shots. In the end, the judges scored the contest in favor of 'Sugar' via a split decision. Loud boos poured down upon the octagon when Bruce Buffer announced O'Malley as the winner. Fans and fighters alike have claimed that the decision was a robbery.
However, a few MMA pundits have remained more neutral and felt that the fight was closer than it looked. This was highlighted by Tim Welch while recently being interviewed by Brett Okamoto of ESPN MMA:
"I'm gonna watch it [the fight] in a second. But I can tell you one thing, the bank account says we won the fight and the rankings say we won the fight. Also, I see very smart people like Kenny Florian and Jon Anik, who know the game, talking about it. They say that it wasn't a robbery. No one was sure who won the fight."
Watch the video below from 10:55:
Sean O'Malley has scaled the UFC bantamweight rankings following his win over Petr Yan. 'Sugar' went from No.11 to No.1 overnight, and a title shot against Aljamain Sterling could be looming.
Sean O'Malley feels that people would've given him more respect had he lost to Petr Yan
Sean O'Malley is currently the No.1-ranked bantamweight in the UFC after defeating Petr Yan at UFC 280.
The fight was competitive. Yan landed some impressive takedowns and punches, and 'Sugar' landed huge shots of his own, including a knee that cut his opponent badly.
O'Malley was able to defy expectations, as many felt that Yan would run through him.
While reflecting on the fight on his podcast, The BrOMalley Show, Sean O'Malley claimed that he would have received more respect from fans had he lost the decision:
"If I would have lost that fight, people would have put a lot more respect on my name... Now it's like, 'What?! He won?! You gotta be sh***ing me!' The people that are mad that I won are people that said I was supposed to get whooped."
Watch the video below from 0:20:
