Getty Sean O'Malley competes.
UFC superstar Sean O’Malley and his coach Tim Welch gave their takes on critics saying Petr Yan defeated him at UFC 280.
This past Saturday, O’Malley took on his biggest test in former interim UFC bantamweight champion Petr Yan at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. O’Malley went into the bout as a massive underdog without a similar level of experience in elite competition. However, ‘Suga’ Sean put in an impressive performance that saw him hurt Yan on a number of occasions. Yan got some huge shots of his own and managed to drop O’Malley in a contest that went the distance.
O’Malley came out on top of the judges’ scorecards by a split decision in a controversial outcome that many argued should have gone to Yan. ‘No Mercy’ was not happy with the result either and took to his Twitter to express his disapproval.
“F*** the judges!” he wrote.
Fuck the judges!
Following the biggest win of his career, O’Malley shared his thoughts on the criticism from some fans and fighters, who believe Yan should have won.
“I was a 4-1 underdog a couple of days ago. Post-fight, some of you guys might have thought I lost, some of you might have thought I won,” said O’Malley on a live stream on his YouTube channel. “At the end of the day, they said I won. I have to rewatch the fight. I’m excited to though, Tim has been in the f***ing bathroom for 15 minutes just screaming in there… tough fight.”
O’Malley Sounds Off on Beating Yan at UFC 280
Although he absorbed some heavy strikes, O’Malley was satisfied with his performance overall.
“Happy with how it played out as far as, landed big shots, ate some big shots. Every time I was orthodox, he was a southpaw, he’d throw this f***ing left body kick so sneaky and so fast. I know there’s levels to this game and I said going into the matchup, he’s the best version of that style. That little f***er proved it,” he added. “Quick kicks to the body, landed a couple of good punches, didn’t feel super strong on the takedowns, he had some good entries where he was pretty deep on the shots to where he had my legs.
“He took me down, I didn’t really feel like I was in any danger too much on my back. I didn’t land too many shots while I was on the ground.”
He expected ‘No Mercy’ to give him a tough battle and was banking on his mental strength to get a win.
“Goddamn! That was a war. That was a mental battle. I knew that going in, this isn’t going to be the test of physical, this is going to be a mental battle.”
O’Malley’s Coach Welch Pushed Back on the Criticism
O’Malley’s coach, Tim Welch, pushed back on the hate his pupil received and hit back at those who disagreed with the result.
Welch tweeted, “Let’s hear it h8er p******!”
Let’s hear it h8er pussies! 🙏🏻
Former UFC two-division champion Henry Cejudo stated Yan got ‘robbed’ by the judges of a win, writing, “Worst robbery I’m UFC history, I hope our sport doesn’t become boxing @danawhite.”
Welch responded with a GIF of a person crying.
PFL’s Brendan Loughnane took issue with Yan not winning the razor-thin bout and tweeted: “I’ve been in camp and watched what this guy has sacrificed for this fight. Then you go and steal it on him. Disgrace.”
“Let’s see his face,” Welch wrote back to Loughnane.
@BrendanMMA @ufc let’s see his face
UFC middleweight Chris Curtis said, “All I’ll say is I don’t know a single fighter who scored that for O’Malley.”
Welch responded to Curtis with a photo of Yan and O’Malley side to side after the bout with a statistical breakdown of the significant strikes landed by each fighter.
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Sean O’Malley Sounds Off on Critics Saying Petr Yan Beat Him at UFC 280