Tim Welch was surprised to hear no mention of a Petr Yan vs. Sean O'Malley rematch after UFC 333.
Yan (21-5 MMA, 13-4 UFC) outlasted Merab Dvalishvili (21-6 MMA, 14-4 UFC) to retain his bantamweight title in Saturday's co-main event at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. In attendance was Song Yadong, whom Daniel Cormier mentioned to Yan as a potential next challenger.
But with O'Malley holding a win over Song (24-9-1 MMA, 13-4-1 UFC), who lost to Yan at UFC 299, Welch believes the O'Malley vs. Yan rematch is a no brainer – especially with O'Malley beating Yan at UFC 280.
"I'm curious. I was going to hopefully have DC on my show today or tomorrow and ask him what he thought about that," Welch said on "The Ariel Helwani Show." "Because if you look back this
year, 'Suga' has his hand raised in a unanimous decision vs. Song Yadong, and then at UFC 299, Petr Yan has his hand raised against Song Yadong. So, I'm curious if someone was in Daniel Cormier's ear because Song was there, but I don't think that was the case.
"I think DC was pushing for Song because maybe deep down there's something about 'Suga' that rubs him the wrong way. Past little comments and then just, I don't know, we're going to get down to the bottom of it when I talk to him, so I'm curious, and I could be totally wrong with that. But it’s always seemed like DC has a little something against 'Suga,' and he doesn't like seeing him win."
Song is coming off a big knockout over Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC Shanghai for his second win in a row. Meanwhile, O'Malley rebounded from back-to-back title losses to Dvalishvili with wins over Song and Aiemann Zahabi.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Sean O'Malley's coach takes umbrage with Daniel Cormier 'pushing' Song Yadong title shot
