Tim Welch weighed in on a past sparring session between UFC champion Sean O'Malley and Alexandre Pantoja.
Bantamweight champion O'Malley and flyweight champion Pantoja had previously argued over an alleged sparring session in 2017, with each claiming they beat the other. O'Malley's interpretation is that he knocked down Pantoja in the first round of the session, but eventually tired and choked him in the third round.
Pantoja (27-5 MMA, 11-3 UFC) prepares for his second title defense against Steve Arseg (12-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) in Saturday's UFC 301 headliner While I was getting ready, this topic came up again. Pantoja claimed he crushed O'Malley (18-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC), but O'Malley responded by reminding him that he stopped him in the first round.
O'Malley's coach, Welch, agreed, and naturally supported O'Malley's fighter's opinion.
“I haven't actually been to combat camp at all,” Welch said on his YouTube channel. “I went to spar, probably to get a few rounds, and Henry (Cejudo) said, 'Hey, do you want to spar with this guy?'” So Sean said, “Yeah, I'll spar with him.” said. They spar for one round and Shawn comes out of Rip and takes him down. Defeat him in the first minute. Now, I don't even remember what year this is.
“I don't think Sean was a pro yet. He might have been a pro who just broke in. … Sean comes out and bounces around, young guy. Boom, hits him with a liver shot and knocks him down. Pantoja has to stop. He has to shake it off. He has to go to Henry and stop it. I mean, there's a video. Although the video was not released, he accused him.”
UFC 301 (pay-per-view/ESPN/ESPN+) takes place Saturday at the Rio Arena in Rio de Janeiro.
For more information on the card, visit MMA Junkie's UFC 301 event hub.
The story originally appeared on MMA Junkie
