John Wood, head coach for Merab Dvalishvili, intends to speak with the referee regarding the actions of Sean O’Malley’s coach, Tim Welch, before their anticipated rematch at UFC 316. During their initial encounter in September, Welch was observed loudly shouting instructions towards Dvalishvili during the fight, a tactic he also employed when O’Malley won the bantamweight title against Aljamain Sterling.
In the UFC 306 bout, referee Herb Dean briefly paused the action because Dvalishvili reacted to Welch`s shouting and issued a warning to the coach. Despite Welch`s vocal efforts, Wood notes that it ultimately did not prevent Dvalishvili from largely controlling the five-round fight to become the champion.
Following that fight, Wood expressed respect for Welch personally but labeled his corner behavior a “bullshit move.” With the rematch set for UFC 316 on June 7 in Newark, N.J., under a different commission than their previous Las Vegas fight, Wood plans to proactively alert the referee to Welch`s history to avoid any surprises.
“Of course, we’ll have that talk [with the referee],” Wood confirmed. “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 stated that directing comments at Dvalishvili during the fight is ineffective. “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,” he asserted. He added, “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.”
While shouting at an opponent is generally considered against the rules, Wood doesn`t expect severe penalties for Welch at UFC 316. He understands the drive for competitive advantage but maintains he would not use such tactics for Dvalishvili. “I actually think that’s a rule, you’re not supposed to do that,” Wood noted, referencing the saying, “‘If you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying.’”
However, he clarified his personal boundary: “I would never have to feel I would have to talk to Sean or anybody else Merab is fighting to get an advantage.” He speculated that the tactic might be more about generating attention than gaining a competitive edge. “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.” He concluded by saying, “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.”
Despite his criticism of the tactic, Wood insists he holds no personal grudges against Welch or O’Malley. He simply views shouting at the opponent as an unnecessary distraction in a high-level contest. “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.”
He reiterated his intention to discuss the matter with the officials but doesn`t anticipate it causing significant problems. “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.”
Shifting to a broader topic, Wood expressed his belief that referees should enforce rules more strictly in general. He pointed out that fouls like groin strikes and eye pokes are often called but rarely result in a point deduction, a practice he finds inconsistent. “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.”
Despite his criticisms of officiating consistency, Wood acknowledged the challenging nature of the referee`s role. “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.”
