Merab Dvalishvili`s head coach, John Wood, intends to alert the referee before the upcoming UFC 316 bout regarding the behavior of Sean O`Malley`s coach, Tim Welch. This follows an incident during their previous fight at UFC 306 last September, where referee Herb Dean paused the action because Merab Dvalishvili reacted to Tim Welch shouting instructions at him from the corner.
Welch had employed a similar tactic when O’Malley claimed the bantamweight title by knocking out Aljamain Sterling. Dean cautioned Welch for his actions during the Dvalishvili fight, but ultimately, Welch`s shouting didn`t prevent Dvalishvili from largely dominating the five rounds and becoming the champion.
After that fight, John Wood commented that while he respected Welch, he considered the tactic a “bullshit move.”
Now, Dvalishvili and O’Malley are scheduled for a rematch headlining UFC 316 on June 7 in Newark, N.J. Since the location has changed from their last encounter in Las Vegas, a different commission will oversee the event. Although Wood doesn`t believe anything Welch says will genuinely distract Merab, he plans to forewarn the referee to avoid any surprises.
“Of course, we’ll have that talk [with the referee],” Wood stated. “Of course, it will be brought up and I think Tim will do it again. But feel free to talk to Merab all you want. It just gave him more motivation. So I’m good.”
Wood added, “Tell Merab what you want him to do and he’ll go ahead and do it. It didn’t work [last time]. It’s not going to work again. I’ve stated this before, whatever you’ve got to do to get your fighter up for the game, whatever you think you’ve got to do as a coach to try and take advantage, do it.”
Coaches are technically not allowed to shout at the opposing fighter, but Wood doesn`t anticipate the referee taking severe action against Welch if he attempts it again at UFC 316.
Wood understands the desire for every possible competitive edge during a fight but insists he would never resort to such tactics to help Dvalishvili defend his title.
“I actually think that’s a rule, you’re not supposed to do that but I mean the old saying, ‘If you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying,’” Wood remarked. “I would never have to feel I would have to talk to Sean or anybody else Merab is fighting to get an advantage. So go ahead. If it gets you more hits or more clicks on your podcast or your TikTok or whatever those guys do, then great for you. He got a lot of play off of that.”
“I don’t feel or never would feel I need to do any of that stuff for Merab or any of my fighters. But again, there’s a lot of people that have had successful careers and cheated a lot and I’m not saying that Tim’s cheating — maybe bending the rules.”
Wood maintains he has no personal issues with either Welch or O’Malley, even if shouting at an opponent is technically disallowed. He simply doesn`t see the necessity of such a tactic between two elite fighters, viewing it as an unnecessary distraction.
“I think Tim’s a good coach. I like Tim personally,” Wood commented. “I don’t take any offense to it. Do I think it’s stupid? Absolutely but I guess maybe they think that it worked for the [Aljamain Sterling] fight so it’s something we’re going to keep doing then go ahead.”
“But we’ll talk to the referees about it but I don’t think it’s going to be a problem in any way, shape or form.”
Speaking more generally, Wood expressed the belief that referees should more consistently enforce the rules during fights, extending beyond just a coach yelling at an opponent.
He cited fouls like illegal groin strikes and eye pokes, which are often called but rarely result in a point deduction, as an area where rule enforcement could be stricter.
“To speak on the penalties, the referees always tell you in the back ‘this is your first hard warning, if you do it once, I’m taking a point.’ No one ever takes a point,” Wood explained. “You’ve basically got to rip somebody’s eyeball out or kick their nuts off to even get a point [deducted]. You kick somebody in the balls four times and then maybe they’re talking about it.”
“There’s a lot of stuff with the judging criteria, the reffing criteria and I’m not knocking on the refs. The refs got the hardest job in the world. The referees, I feel bad for them, the shit they have to go through.”
