Sean O'Malley's coach Tim Welch demonstrates Ilia Topuria's mistake that deprived him of a finish against Justin Gaethje

Ilia Topuria suffered the first defeat of his professional mixed martial arts career at the UFC Freedom 250 event earlier this month. Incidentally, his fellow UFC superstar "Sugar" Sean O'Malley also competed at the event. 

America's O'Malley was victorious, beating Canada's Aiemann Zahabi via second-round TKO in their bantamweight matchup.

O'Malley's longtime head coach, Tim Welch, has weighed in on various topics concerning the aftermath of the high-profile UFC event that transpired at the White House. 

A notable topic of discussion that Welch addressed was Topuria's fourth-round TKO loss against Justin Gaethje in their UFC lightweight title unification match that headlined UFC Freedom 250. Welch has now outlined what he believes was a major error "El Matador" made that cost him the fight against Gaethje. 

Tim Welch acknowledged Ilia Topuria's excellent striking

Taking to his official YouTube channel, Tim Welch alluded that Ilia Topuria came close to finishing Justin Gaethje in their fight, particularly when he knocked the ex-BMF champion down with a body shot, a punch to the liver, to be specific. 

Welch indicated that fighting is fast-paced and the athlete's heart rate is usually high in the heat of the moment, so their decision-making may not always be on point. However, he feels the Georgian-Spaniard fighter could have most definitely scored a KO/TKO win over Gaethje after dropping him with the liver shot. 

The MMA trainer seemed to laud Topuria's excellent striking sequence, wherein he utilized uppercuts and body punches to knock "The Highlight" down.

Nevertheless, many fans and experts have lately pointed out that Topuria followed it up with ground control and apparent grappling and submission attempts, which gave Gaethje time to recover. Welch echoed similar sentiments. 

Tim Welch demonstrates why Ilia Topuria was unable to finish Justin Gaethje at UFC Freedom 250

Demonstrating Ilia Topuria's striking combination from the fight, Tim Welch stated: 

"And the one that really put him (Justin Gaethje) down -- he (Ilia Topuria) went uppercut, boom! And a hard liver shot. Justin went down, and Ilia Topuria followed him. And it gave Justin some time to recover from this body shot."

Further expounding upon why the finish and resultant win eluded Topuria, Welch opined that he should've walked around Gaethje and used ground strikes instead of seeking top position and grappling. 

He continued, "Now, when you get hit with a hard liver shot, it really seizes you up, and it shuts you down. So, instead, boom, really uppercut, liver shot -- he should have stood over him. Stood over him, walked around him, and juiced him." 

Welch also appeared to jestingly jibe at the back-of-the-head illegal strikes controversy that marred the UFC Freedom 250 event's co-headlining match.

For context, Ciryl Gane dropped Alex Pereira with a jab in that fight and followed up with what many deemed to be several illegal strikes to the back of Pereira's head. Gane eventually stopped "Poatan" via second-round TKO and won the interim UFC heavyweight championship that was up for grabs in their fight. 

Pereira and a few others criticized Gane for his utilization of the strikes and called out Referee Herb Dean for not taking any punitive action against Gane. Well, Welch referenced the controversy and jokingly suggested that after having dropped Gaethje with the liver shot, Topuria could've used a few back-of-the-head strikes as Gane did. 

Welch added, "Then, I think Ilia Topuria could have got the TKO over Justin Gaethje." 

 

Watch Tim Welch's demonstration of the liver shot sequence in Ilia Topuria vs. Justin Gaethje and his explanation of Topuria's supposed error below: