Tim Welch says the UFC is looking to make its product as fan-friendly as possible.

This year begins a new era of the UFC, as the promotion begins a long broadcast partnership with Paramount. This partnership begins on Jan. 24 with UFC 324, which will feature a pivotal bantamweight matchup between former champion Sean O’Malley and rising contender Song Yadong. It’s the kind of all-action matchup that the UFC seems to be prioritizing lately, and O’Malley’s coach, Tim Welch, says that’s not a coincidence: he’s heard that the promotion is actively trying to move towards a more fan-friendly style of fighting.

“I don’t know if they are or not, but rumor has it the UFC is kind of trying to get away from people who just pin people, who just try to stall out,” Welch told Home of Fight. “Grapplers who are going to pin you in half guard for the whole fight. I think they’re trying to get away from that, which is smart. They probably should. It’s a sport people are going to want to watch.”

This is not just a UFC trend. Over the past several years, the unified rules of MMA of moved towards more damage-based scoring criteria in an effort to curb “lay-and-pray” and keep the sport entertaining.

Fortunately, that should not be an issue between O’Malley and Song, two of the most exciting bantamweights in the UFC. O’Malley and his team have some familiarity with Song, who lost to his teammate Kyler Phillips in 2021. But since then, Song has gone 6-2 and is coming off a win over former champion Henry Cejudo, proving himself as one of the best in the world, which has Welch pumped for the matchup.

“Song Yadong, top five — I think he’s ranked No. 5 — he is an animal,” Welch said. “Anybody in the top 10, top five especially, they’re literally the best fighters on the planet Earth. So, any fight from here on out is going to be one of the best in the world.

“Pretty excited for this one. We know Song Yadong is going to come out and try to wrestle us and try to pin us against the fence, and we’re planning for that. But it would be sweet if he wanted to stand up and make a really exciting fight for the fans. That would be sweet, too. …

“Song Yadong is such an animal. He trains at a great gym, he’s such an explosive athlete, he’s good on the ground, he’s an explosive wrestler, he knocks people out. He fights the best people in the world, and the best people in the world don’t finish him. So, we’ve got our hands full Jan. 24.”

O’Malley is also excited for the fight, saying this week that he believes a win over Song could earn him a title shot against new champion Petr Yan. But first he has to beat Song, and Welch knows that’s going to be a tough test.

“We’re planning for a 15-minute, brutal war,” Welch said. “He’s similar to Chito. He’s way faster than Chito, he’s got more spring than Chito, he’s a little bit more dangerous on the feet. He can KO you, for sure. But Suga’s a KO artist, and when you’re a KO artist, you go in there, and you start sitting down on punches and really trying to crack people.

“But we’re preparing for him to be there for 15 minutes. So we’re planning to beat his body up, to cut his face, to punch his head, to potentially choke him, maybe take him down, ride him a little bit. We’re preparing for a 15-minute war. I haven’t really thought about how it’s going to play out, but in my heart, I feel like we’re going to whoop his ass.”

UFC 324 is headlined by an interim lightweight title fight between Justin Gaethje and Paddy Pimblett, and also features the highly anticipated women’s bantamweight fight between Kayla Harrison and Amanda Nunes.

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VIDEO STEW

Justin Gaethje fight camp.

Daniel Cormier and Ben Askren.

Cooking with Volk.

Farewell to BC.

Zion Clark promises to choke out Valter Walker.

SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

Conor McGregor out there doing some good.

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Fluffy Hernandez in Houston.

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And Stipe, too.

Thread of the best KOs from 2025.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I mean, the sport writ large has been trying to kill lay-and-pray for 20 years, and it should. But the problem is when the UFC decides a fighter is boring when he’s not. I will die on the hill that Movsar Evloev is not boring (I’m not saying he’s Justin Gaethje, but he’s in good fights more often than not). More importantly, he’s undeniably one of the best guys in the world, and they’re gonna run him out of there, which I think is lame.

Just get better refs and judges to enforce the rules and scoring appropriately.

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