Merab Dvalishvili and Sean O’Malley engaged in heated trash talk during a UFC 306 promotional photoshoot, with tensions escalating over Dvalishvili’s disdain for O’Malley’s coach, Tim Welch, whom Dvalishvili vowed to confront physically outside the octagon.
Days after Merab Dvalishvili finally landed Sean O’Malley as his next opponent, he got together with the bantamweight champ for a photoshoot to begin promoting UFC 306.
The card taking place at the Sphere in Las Vegas has been teased as the most expensive event in UFC history. So, it stands to reason why the promotion is going to put a lot of marketing muscle into making UFC 306 the biggest and best show possible.
Part of the photoshoot involved Dvalishvili coming face-to-face with O’Malley for a staredown. But the two rivals barely got within a foot of each other before the trash talk started.
UFC eventually released a clip showing Dvalishvili arguing with O’Malley while a stunned Alexa Grasso watched in the background. However, it turns out cameras didn’t get rolling soon enough to catch everything.
“We were just doing a faceoff,” Dvalishvili told MMA Fighting. “They wanted us to face off without conversation. But of course, once I saw Sean, he was making fun of me.”
He continued, “He was joking, ‘Welcome to the big show,’ and he said, ‘Oh, have you ever been in the main event?’ He was [talking to] me with sarcasm.”
“I said, ‘Yes, of course, I’ve been in the main event before. Remember when I beat the shit out of Petr Yan?’ He didn’t like that.” Dvalishvili added, “He [said], ‘Welcome to the big show. I’ve been here.’”
The war of words eventually led to Dvalishvili taking aim at O’Malley’s head coach Tim Welch. Welch had injected himself into the rivalry after getting into a spat with former UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling on social media.
The initial incident erupted after video captured during O’Malley’s title fight win showed Welch shouting instructions at Sterling from the side of the cage. Sterling then accused Welch of talking so much trash from the corner that the referee had to tell him to stay quiet.
The back-and-forth saw Dvalishvili promise to slap Welch when they finally run into each other. That only amplified the bad blood between the two camps.
Dvalishvili says what UFC captured on film was his confrontation with O’Malley over Welch. This happened after their trash talk had already begun.
As much as Dvalishvili wants to beat O’Malley and take his title at UFC 306, he promises his biggest issue lies with Welch more than anybody else. “I have a problem with his coach, Tim,” Dvalishvili said.
“He was very disrespectful to me and he was doing stupid [stuff] and not respectful [things]. Any real coach should never do that, whatever he was doing.” He compared it to other sports: “Try doing the same thing in basketball or football. They will give you a disqualification.”
“Only in UFC can you get away with this,” he noted. “Coach your guy, coach your fighter. Don’t be disrespectful to the opponent.”
“What kind of people do this? Only a snake person does this.” Even now, Welch continues his antics on his podcast.
“He’s making fun of my height, making fun of my nose,” Dvalishvili complained. “He deserves [me] to smack his face.”
That’s what he told Sean O’Malley: “Hey Sean, tell your coach to shut his mouth.” He was infuriated by all these videos showing Welch’s behavior.
After Dvalishvili vowed to settle things with Welch when they run into each other, O’Malley amped up his chatter by telling Dvalishvili that Welch would welcome that fight. Especially with a significant size advantage on his side.
That’s when Dvalishvili reminded O’Malley that he wasn’t trying to lure Welch into the cage for a UFC match-up.
“He said, ‘Oh, you should fight him.’ Bro, I’m talking about a street fight,” Dvalishvili clarified. “You think I’m going to go in the cage and have rules there?”
“I’m talking about when I see him, I’m going to smack his face.” O’Malley countered by saying Welch is bigger than him—hence weight classes.
“I don’t give a shit,” Dvalishvili retorted. “I’m talking man-to-man.”
“He’s not a real coach or a real man,” he continued. “I’m not going into the cage with him.”
“He’s never going to be in the UFC or my weight class especially.” The idea of jiu-jitsu rounds? Not happening.
“I’m talking about a street fight.” That’s all he was trying to convey when O’Malley brought up weight classes again.
“This guy is so stupid,” Dvalishvili exclaimed. “What are you talking about? Where did you grow up?”
“As irate as he was in the moment,” Dvalishvili says he never intended for things with O’Malley to turn so volatile. But he’s not backing down from any challenge—even one from an opponent’s head coach.
“I don’t like drama,” Dvalishvili admitted. “I’m a professional fighter and I’m going to focus on this fight.”
“But if I see Tim somewhere, of course I’m going to smack his face.” That’s what he told Sean O’Malley.
“Tim deserves it for sure.” But between him and Sean?
“We’re going to fight in the cage with rules.” The UFC octagon will host their battle for the belt.
“That’s done,” he concluded. “I’m not going to talk to Tim because he doesn’t deserve it.”
“He already talks too much,” Dvalishvili asserted. “He already disrespected me and my team.”
“Tim deserves only one thing—a smack in his face.”