Tim Welch: 'Flat-footed' Ilia Topuria a more favorable matchup for Sean O'Malley than Max Holloway
[autotag]Sean O'Malley[/autotag]'s coach would rather he fought [autotag]Ilia Topuria[/autotag] than [autotag]Max Holloway[/autotag] 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."
Related
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Ilia Topuria on how Sean O'Malley fight would go: 'I can do with him whatever I want'
Ilia Topuria praises 'showman' Sean O'Malley: 'I like him, he's doing a great job'
Umar Nurmagomedov advises UFC champ Sean O'Malley against move up for Ilia Topuria fight
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 308.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Tim Welch: 'Flat-footed' Ilia Topuria a more favorable matchup for Sean O'Malley than Max Holloway
