Merab Dvalishvili’s coach shares what he screamed at coach Tim Welch during UFC 306 headliner

UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili took issue with Tim Welch’s taunting in the opening seconds of UFC 306, and his coach took mere minutes to hit back.

Dvalishvili got the last laugh against Sean O’Malley by defeating him by unanimous decision in the UFC 306 main event. The Georgian’s long path to the title paid off in a big way as he largely dominated O’Malley over five rounds.

In the opening seconds of the first round, referee Herb Dean scolded Welch for trying to give Dvalishvili fake advice. Welch later claimed he was attempting to tell Dvalishvili to “be patient”, likely to create a potential opening for O’Malley.

As the fight progressed, Dvalishvili and O’Malley’s corners traded barbs. Dvalishvili’s coach has now told his side of the story.

Merab Dvalishvili’s coach John Wood verbally sparred with Tim Welch

In a recent interview with MMA Fighting, Syndicate MMA head coach John Wood weighed in on Welch’s in-fight taunts towards Dvalishvili.

“That’s not our job,” Wood said of Dvalishvili’s reaction to Welch. “I’m not trashing Tim for anything he does. I respect Tim, but it is a bullshit move. I was yelling at Tim across the cage several times when Sean would mess up, and I was making sure Sean heard me calling out everything that he wanted to throw.

“When he would do something stupid, I caught myself a couple of times in the fight going ‘Tim, did you teach him that? That was terrible!’ [shouting] across the cage.” (h/t MMA Fighting)

Wood then explained why coaches trash-talking opposing fighters is off-limits, after Dvalishvili’s incident with Welch.

“Fighters are there to trash talk, to build the fight, do their thing, whether they like each other, don’t like each other, I don’t think it’s a place for coaches to get in,” Wood said of Dvalishvili/O’Malley. “Tim was doing some stuff beforehand like at the weigh-ins, he was talking shit to Merab on camera, saying things and that’s fine. If you really feel like you need that mental edge and especially you could see how fragile Sean was and how quick he broke, maybe they do.”

O’Malley will take an extended break to repair a torn labrum suffered ahead of UFC 306. Meanwhile, Dvalishvili will prepare to likely face Umar Nurmagomedov in his first title defense.