With UFC 306 complete, Tim Welch admits he knew Merab Dvalishvili “was gonna be a problem,” which might explain his motivation for doing what he did at the start of Saturday night’s main event at Sphere in Las Vegas.
The puzzling moment occurred just 10 seconds into Dvalishvili’s title fight with bantamweight champion Sean O'Malley as the challenger pointed and started yelling in the direction of O’Malley’s corner, prompting referee Herb Dean to call time and admonish Dvalishvili. As it unfolded, the UFC 306 commentary team of Joe Rogan, Daniel Cormier and Jon Anik was baffled.
In-cage audio during the broadcast shed some light on the bizarre moment, with Dean telling Dvalishvili, “Merab, don’t start this. Do not talk to him. That’s my job.” Dean also addressed Welch after restarting the fight. “Do your job, I’ll do mine,” he told O’Malley’s head coach.
