UFC Hall of Famer Matt Serra, who once trained Merab Dvalishvili, is firmly standing by the bantamweight champion. Serra is particularly critical of incidents involving Dvalishvili’s opponents and their coaching staff.
The controversy stems from a previous championship fight where Sean O’Malley’s coach, Tim Welch, was accused of employing questionable tactics. During O’Malley’s bout against Aljamain Sterling, Welch reportedly shouted instructions to Sterling from O’Malley’s corner, seemingly attempting to disrupt Sterling’s focus.
While Sterling dismissed any impact from Welch’s actions, Welch repeated the tactic in the fight against Dvalishvili, drawing a warning from the referee. Serra, a long-time coach and fighter, expressed strong disapproval of Welch’s behavior.
On The Overdogs podcast, Serra didn’t mince words about Welch: “I’m not a fan of that guy because when they were fighting, he does some dirty f*cking, c*nty shit. He’s the guy [yelling] ‘Aljo, you’ve got to go, you’ve got [to go]!’”
Serra added, “Dude, it might not be against the rules, but you’re being a little bitch right now. I’m just letting you know. I’m not going to go ‘Sean O’Malley, you’ve got to [go]!’”
Dvalishvili confronted Welch about his behavior after the incident with Sterling. O’Malley defended his coach, even suggesting Dvalishvili could settle the issue physically with Welch.
Dvalishvili continued to criticize Welch leading up to their fight, dismissing the idea of a physical altercation outside the octagon. Serra found the notion of Welch fighting Dvalishvili amusing.
“I like when he got in that Tim Welch’s face,” Serra commented. “Sean O’Malley’s a nice kid, but he still has a kid’s mentality. He’s like ‘there’s weight classes for a reason.’ Merab would eat him in a street fight. I don’t give a f*ck what that ginger knows. He would eat him up.”
Serra further recounted, “I like when Merab saw him he goes ‘you want to go now or do you want to wait until after the fight?’ Tim Welch is like [I’m all right]. Because dude, I don’t know what world they’re from. I don’t know what their code is. I know Merab’s and Merab wouldn’t be like let’s have a street fight and weigh in. Shut the f*ck up.”
Serra emphasized his strong dislike for coaches interfering in fights by yelling instructions at opponents from the corner: “They’re fighting,” Serra stated. “We’re not fighting.”
