One week ago, Tim Welch was scheduled to be on Friday’s Bellator 113 preliminary card against Donnie Bell but received a call last week that would alter that fight booking.
Following Terry Etim suffering an ACL injury, Bellator called Welch to offer him a spot in the season ten lightweight tournament. When he received the call, he nearly teared up before accepting a spot in the tournament.
The Fight Master alum has been training at the MMA Lab in Arizona and while training at the gym over the last two years, it has pushed him out of his comfort zone.
“I’m training at the MMA Lab in Glendale, Arizona,” Welch said. “John Crouch is my head trainer and I train with guys like Joe Riggs, Benson Henderson, Efrain Escudero and Jamie Varner. The list goes on and on. It’s a really stacked gym, and they’ve helped to push me out of my comfort zone. Yeah, I enjoy it, but it’s the hardest I’ve ever worked and I plan on showing it on Friday.”
One of the fighters at the MMA Lab that has taken him in is Riggs, who won the inaugural season of Fight Master and is currently recovering from an undisclosed injury. Riggs took him under his wings and Welch lived with him for a while. Riggs has helped him in and out of training and he doesn’t want Welch to make the same mistakes he has made in his career.
Welch’s first fight in Bellator came in 2012 as a welterweight and this will mark his lightweight debut in the organization. Fighting at lightweight will have advantages for Welch as he cited that he will no longer be carrying around any more worthless weight.
“Moving down to 155 will be huge,” Welch stated. “I won’t be carrying around any extra, worthless weight, I’m lighter on my toes and I’ll be able to use a lot more angles and hit a lot more than just one or two shots like I used to.”
On Friday night at Bellator 113, he will be facing Derek Campos in the opening round of the tournament and it will be one of the four fights on the main card broadcast on Spike TV. Campos is currently riding a four fight winning streak and two of those wins have come in Bellator by unanimous decision.
When it comes to breaking down the game of Campos, Welch views him as an explosive, athletic fighter and he believes there styles are similar as both have solid boxing and wrestling.
“He’s got a good right hand and left hook. His stand up is pretty explosive and his ground game looks really good too. His stamina is one of his big things. On my side, I feel like I have strong, strong stand up. I feel like I can stand up with anyone in the world. On the ground, I have good wrestling and Jiu-Jitsu, so I think our ground games are pretty equal. Now that I’m at the MMA Lab, I’d say my cardio will be just as good, if not better.”
Welch is confident that he will win this fight on Friday night and will end up at the end of the tournament as the last man standing. One thing he does promise the Bellator fans is that he is not going to lay and pray, and plans to make it an exciting fight at all cost.
“All my fans know that I’m going to make every fight exciting no matter what. I’m not going to lay and pray, I’m not going to get taken down and stay there. I’m going to make it an exciting fight at all costs. I plan on being on the winning end of a lot of them and I plan on winning this tournament.”