Sean O’Malley’s coach believes a healthy ‘Suga’ is Merab Dvalishvili’s ‘kryptonite’: “We take him out”

Tim Welch the coach of Sean O’Malley believes his fighter is the kryptonite for Merab Dvalishvili.

O’Malley lost his bantamweight title to Dvalishvili in September at the Sphere. Dvalishvili was able to impose his will with his cardio and wrestling to win the fight. However, O’Malley was injured in the fight which Welch believes played a big role.

So, after seeing Dvalishvili beat Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC 311, Tim Welch says he only grew more confident that Sean O’Malley would defeat the champ in a rematch.

“He’s a problem. He’s a big problem,” Welch said about O’Malley vs Dvalishvili. “But I do believe that we could be the Kryptonite to Merab with the right game plan and a good fight camp. With ‘Suga’ healthy, I think we take him out. And we’ll find out, now won’t we?”

Sean O’Malley does have a chance to get a rematch with Merab Dvalishvili next time out, which Welch is hoping for. O’Malley hasn’t fought since he lost to Dvalishvili in September.

Sean O’Malley’s coach praises Merab Dvalishvili after UFC 311

Merab Dvalishvili defended his bantamweight title on Saturday with a hard-fought decision win over Umar Nurmagomedov.

O’Malley’s coach says Dvalishvili looked good at UFC 311, while he thinks Nurmagomedov gassed out which cost him a chance to win the title.

“Umar came out there, stayed mostly southpaw, was throwing some sharp 1-2s in the beginning, and looking sharp,” Welch said. “And Merab, fourth, fifth round, just started taking over. You could tell after that fourth round, Umar was seriously gassed. He was really tired. He did a good job wrestling.

“Merab was shooting a ton and Umar was doing a great job at stuffing all of his shots,” Welch continued. “If he did hit his butt, he’d hit his butt just for a second, pop right up. But Merab just kept that pace, kept that cardio on him – and he’s got some cardio, I’ll tell you that. (He) came out in the fifth round, kept pressuring him, and that last 30 seconds of the fight I think really made Merab win the fight.”

Sean O’Malley is 18-2 and one NC and coming off the loss to Dvalishvili. Before that, he beat Marlon Vera by decision to defend his belt for the first time.