Sean O’Malley’s coach takes blame for loss to Marlon Vera at UFC 252: “That was definitely a mistake”

Tim Welch, the head coach of Sean O’Malley is taking the blame for ‘Suga’s’ UFC 252 loss to Marlon Vera.

O’Malley’s lone career loss came by first-round TKO to Vera in a fight that ‘Suga’ hurt his ankle in the first round. O’Malley entered the fight as a sizeable betting favorite but in the scrap, he rolled his ankle several times and ended up not being able to get back to his feet.

Sean O’Malley says he complained about the ankle wraps and them being too tight backstage but didn’t have enough time to loosen them.

“I had both of my ankles wrapped because I was coming off a pretty bad injury on my right foot. I broke that foot in my second fight in the UFC and it required a pretty major surgery,” Sean O’Malley said to ESPN. “So, I was having my ankles wrapped and I remember right before I walked out, I was asking my team, ‘Will you try to loosen these wraps? They feel so tight.’ I didn’t have circulation. I couldn’t move my ankles, and I remember vividly, like, “F**k, will you loosen these up a bit?'”

Tim Welch confirmed that was the case and says he puts the blame on himself as he should have told the commission to wait and rewrapped the ankles. However, he didn’t do that, which is something he regrets.

“I don’t like making excuses, but Sean was complaining about those ankles. Those wraps were too tight. We thought once he started bouncing around, they’d loosen up a bit, but they didn’t. I think once that nerve got hit, there was just no blood flow to the ankle. We were a little rushed getting out of the locker room,” Welch said about Sean O’Malley. “We were already warmed up and it had gone perfect. It was kind of this feeling like, ‘We’re warm, let’s just go f**k this kid up real quick.’ That was definitely a mistake. As the coach, I should have said, ‘I don’t care if everyone has to wait, we’re going to rewrap those ankles.'”

Ultimately, Welch and Sean O’Malley will get a chance to avenge that loss as they rematch Marlon Vera on Saturday in the main event of UFC 299.