Sean O’Malley’s coach Tim Welch has explained why he thinks it may be beneficial for Conor McGregor to only be sparring weaker opponents than him in the build-up to his fight with Michael Chandler at UFC 303 on June 29th.
Welch made that assessment on his youtube channel while breaking down recent sparring footage of McGregor as he prepares for his comeback fight later this month, noting that the fighters he was going up against seemed, “a little bit scared and a little bit intimidated by him.”
“Sometimes tuning everybody up, everyone’s scared of you, then you get in this cage with this high level of confidence and go out there and piece them up,” Welch noted.
“Compare that to training with really good guys all the time, and you’re getting beat up all the time… They’re taking you down. They’re submitting you. Then you go in that cage not near as confident. There’s some pluses and minuses to both.”
Welch also gave his assessment of McGregor’s current ability, physical shape and potential signs of a gameplan for taking on Chandler based on the footage he’s seen.
“Still sharpening up his left hand, he’s looking in shape… It doesn’t look like that left leg’s bothering him at all. You can tell it’s a little bit atrophied still [and] it’s definitely a little smaller.
“Looks like they’re timing the left knee when Michael Chandler’s stepping in for a right hand – that’s going to be a good option.”
