Former Bantamweight Champion Aljamain Sterling seems to embrace the age-old adage that what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. He recently responded to the ringside antics from Sean O’Malley’s corner in kind, with his own brand of instructional coaching at UFC 306, when O’Malley met in the octagon with Sterling’s teammate Merab Dvalishvili.
Aljamain Sterling Recounts Cage-Side Coaching from Tim Welch Back at UFC 292
Sterling and O’Malley met last August, when the “Suga Show” was able to stop “Aljo” in the second round, to claim the Bantamweight title.
During the fight, Sean’s coach – Tim Welch, was vocal at cage-side yelling instructions to sterling in attempts to confuse him into making a mistake.
Welch can be heard yelling “Aljo, you gotta go!”. Shortly after, Sterling lunged with an overextended punch that O’Malley was able to counter with a clean right hand, inevitably finishing the fight.
Sterling believes that Tim Welch is trying to take credit for helping Suga defeat him, when in actuality; Aljo says that he didn’t hear Welch’s commands at all.
They took that clip and really twisted everyone’s perception as if he was playing chess, not checkers. It would be one thing if I actually heard that, and I actually followed his actions from his coaching to me. But it was nothing like that.
So when Welch began to shout commands at Merab as well, telling him he needs to be patient, and wait for the shoot.. Merab began yelling back at him, prompting referee Herb Dean to briefly stop the fight and give Dvalishvili a warning to stay focused.
“I think they were trying to do the same thing, and it was just funny to see Merab call him out right out of the gate.”
Sterling Gives O’Malley’s Corner a Taste of Their Own Medicine
Sterling, understandably frustrated, voiced his protest to Herb Dean. Believing that he had been waved off or ignored, he decided to play along by shouting his own instructions back at O’Malley
I was very vocal in the corner to Herb where he kinda like, waved me off or brushed me off. I’m like, “Dude.. tell him to shut the fuck up!” Then once he kinda did that, I was like, alright.. fair game. I’m gonna do the same exact bullsh*t. – I started telling Sean his laces were untied. – I was like, Sean, the takedown’s coming. Oh, wait, Sean! Don’t react yet! Not yet!
It seems that Welch was given a warning by Herb Dean between rounds, but did not stop him from continuing to shout commands to O’Malley, still using Merab’s name, even if not directed to him.
Regardless of the ringside shenanigans, Dvalishvili was able to secure a clear unanimous decision over O’Malley. With this, his 11th straight win; Merab brought the Bantamweight title home to celebrate a dominant victory with his team.
In The End
Sterling said in closing, “At the end of the day, skills will won the fight, and the better man won. And that’s all that matters.”
Dvalishvili can enjoy his title for a time, but opponents’ names are already being thrown around. It is possible that his first defense could come against either Umar Nurmagomedov or Deiveson Figueiredo —both of whom would pose a significant challenge and test for the new champion.
We just hope that fighters’ corners can stay more professional in the future, and allow the fighters to do what they do without being distracted by adolescent tomfoolery.
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
