Tim Welch, one of the coaches behind Sean O’Malley, has responded to some recent comments from former Bellator and ONE Champ Ben Askren.<\/p>\n
O’Malley last fought in the co-main event of UFC 252 last weekend, succumbing to a volley of punches from Marlon Vera after seemingly injuring his leg. After the fight was stopped, he was stretchered out of the Octagon.<\/p>\n
Askren was not impressed with the performance O’Malley put forth, and also took issue<\/a> with the formerly unbeaten bantamweight leaving the Octagon on a stretcher.<\/p>\n \u201cIf they tried carting me out because of an ankle injury, I would\u2019ve fought someone over that,\u201d Askren said of O\u2019Malley. \u201cYou\u2019re not putting my ass on a stretcher because I got an ankle injury. I got one other good leg, and I\u2019m gonna hop all the way to the back. Leave me the F alone. I think he needs to grow up.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s part of growing up. In life, you have failures, you have struggle,\u201d Askren continued, criticizing O’Malley further. \u201cYou\u2019re gonna learn from them. Obviously, he hasn\u2019t lost a fight to this point, so he probably hasn\u2019t experienced those really hard things and really, at this point, embarrassment also… He was building himself up and got his ass kicked by \u2018Chito\u2019 Vera. He\u2019s probably a little embarrassed by that, as well. Hey, that\u2019s part of it. Get up, rub some dirt on it, hop yourself to the back.\u201d<\/p>\n It did not take long for a member of Team O’Malley to respond from this harsh critique from Askren.<\/p>\n Speaking on Twitter, Coach Welch explained that the medical team on duty for UFC 252 forced O’Malley to leave the Octagon on a stretcher, despite the fighter’s protests to the contrary.<\/p>\n He was trying to say I don\u2019t need a stretcher like three times, they enforced it.<\/p>\n \u2014 Tim Welch (@TimwelchMT) August 18, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n