"Backstage I just went to shake Ian's hand because I have a lot of respect for him. He's a beast, I've been a fan for a long time and he refused to shake my hand.
And he and his team started talking shit. Seriously? So I stepped back and they kept saying nasty things. So I thought, "I'm not gonna let these dudes just make fun of me." And I started talking crap back, and I made fun of his coach, and it pissed Peter off," Welch said in an interview with James Lynch's YouTube channel.
Recall, O'Malley and Yan won their fights at UFC 299: the American defended the belt in a fight with Marlon Vera, and the Russian took the upper hand over Song Yadong.