Sean O’Malley’s longtime coach and close friend Tim Welch recently talked about the psychological tactics he used during the historic bantamweight title match between O’Malley and Aljamain Sterling. In a recent appearance on the Digital Social Hour Podcast, Welch opened up about exactly what he was doing and why he did it.
When the topic came up, Welch made it clear he has no regrets about his conduct during the bout, even though it drew significant backlash at the time.
“I get a lot of s**t still for talking to Aljo while Sean was competing against him. I still get a lot of crap about that, but I don’t regret it. I don’t regret doing that,” Welch said.
He then explained the specific strategy behind it, noting just how difficult the circumstances were heading into that matchup.
“I knew that we were going in there very, very injured and I knew there was a few ways for us to win and I just really wanted to slow Aljo down from pressuring him and moving right away,” Welch explained.
The tactic Welch used was rooted in a specific moment from Sterling’s past, one that he believed could plant a seed of doubt in Sterling’s mind during the fig ht itself.
“I was trying to remind him… I was there when Marlon Moraes knocked him out cold years ago,” he stated. “He jumped in on him and Marlon Moraes threw a knee and knocked him out cold. So I was wanting to remind him of that moment in the fig ht. ‘The Marlon Moraes is coming. Marlon Moraes is coming.’ And I know he could hear me and I think it did slow him down a little bit in that first round.”
Welch acknowledged that he was not entirely certain the tactic changed the outcome, but stood by his decision to try it regardless.
“I don’t know if it helped, but I’ve been in matches where their coach is talking to me and it’s definitely messing with you,” he said.
When asked whether athletes can actually hear coaches over the crowd noise during a match, Welch confirmed it is very much possible. “Yeah, for sure,” he said.
Welch also pushed back on the idea that what he did was unprecedented or outside the norms of the sport.
He stated, “That clip went viral and people are like, ‘What the hell? He’s talking to the other athlete.’ That’s not a new thing. People do that all the time. It’s our team versus your team. If I can do something that’s going to get in your mind and mess you up a little bit, best believe I’m going to do it.”
On the question of whether there is an actual rule against it, Welch referenced a conversation with legendary MMA referee John McCarthy.
He explained, “John McCarthy, he said there’s a what did he call it, he said excessive coaching. And he said that’s illegal. Excessive coaching. It’s not a scream. I’m just saying their name. I’m saying their name and I asked John McCarthy, ‘Can I say their name?’ He said, ‘No.’ I’m like, I guess that’s news to me.”
