Tim Welch: ‘Flat-footed’ Ilia Topuria a more favorable matchup for Sean O’Malley than Max Holloway

September 9, 2024 6:50 pm ET

Sean O’Malley’s coach would rather he fought Ilia Topuria than Max Holloway in a move up to featherweight.

Topuria (15-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) defends his 145-pound title against Holloway (26-7 MMA, 22-7 UFC) in the UFC 308 headliner Oct. 26 at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+).

O’Malley’s head coach, Welch, praised Topuria, but after watching clips of his fights, he sees paths to victory for Holloway.

“I watched Topuria vs. Bryce Mitchell again, and he’s so f*cking good. His shoulders are so high, he’s so good at coming close,” Welch said on his YouTube channel. “If you throw a punch, and you’re not bringing it back to your face, he’s so good at counter punching.

“I mean, he’s pretty flat-footed, and he’s pretty stationary, and he is not the tallest guy. I would be zero percent surprised if Max Holloway came out, found his range, got started first, made Topuria miss a lot, and Max got it done.”

O’Malley (18-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC) defends his bantamweight title against Merab Dvalishvili (17-4 MMA, 10-2 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC 306 (pay-per-view, ESPNews, ESPN+) main event at Sphere in Las Vegas.

If “The Suga Show” can get past Dvalishvili, he expressed interest in moving up to featherweight to challenge Topuria. Welch likes how longer and rangier O’Malley matches up against “El Matador.”

“I just think it’s a – people are like, ‘You f*cking idiot.’ I’m like, ‘It’s a winnable fight,’” Welch said of Topuria. “I just truly do believe it is.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 308.

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