Sean O'Malley's coach believes Alexander Volkanovski 'would batter' Aljamain Sterling

Tim Welch doesn’t see Aljamain Sterling having success moving up a division to fight Alexander Volkanovski.

Bantamweight champion Sterling (23-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC) defends his title against Welch’s star student, Sean O’Malley, Saturday in the main event of UFC 292 at TD Garden in Boston. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+.

Sterling’s plan is to beat O’Malley then move up to challenge featherweight champion Volkanovski (26-2 MMA, 13-1 UFC), but Welch thinks he’d be in for a rude awakening.

“I truly think Volkanovski is pound-for-pound the best fighter on earth right now,” Welch said on Submission Radio. “So, as good as Aljo is, as strong as he is, as good of a grappler as he is, I think Volkanovski would batter Aljo.”

That doesn’t mean Welch doesn’t take Sterling seriously. Like O’Malley, Welch dubbed Sterling as the greatest bantamweight of all time as they look to dethrone him Saturday.

“I really do think he’s the greatest bantamweight of all time,” Welch said. “And people debate that, saying Dominick Cruz is and stuff, but you look at his resume. OK, you got to take out the fact that T.J. (Dillashaw) was hurt because that was no one’s fault but T.J.’s that he stepped in there (hurt).

“And how good Cory Sandhagen is. He’s so good skilled, and Aljo took him out under a minute. And then how big of a beast and how confident Henry Cejudo is. Explosive boxer, Olympic champion, just a beast of an athlete and one of the best competitors out there. And then Aljo beats him also. So, I think it’s pretty easy to say Aljo is the best bantamweight there’s ever been right now.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 292.