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Former UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling recently shared his prediction for the upcoming fight between Sean O'Malley and Marlon Vera, who are set to face each other at UFC 299 on March 9 at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida.
O'Malley defends his bantamweight title for the first time in the main event, looking to avenge his only career loss to Vera. Since their last fight, the reigning bantamweight champion has grown in popularity and is coming off an impressive title-winning second-round TKO victory over Sterling at UFC 292.
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Both men squared off in the octagon for the first time in the co-main event of UFC 252. O'Malley was crippled by Vera's calf kicks, and eventually, TKO'd on the mat after being unable to keep the fight standing, owing to the rare drop-foot injury due to impact to the peroneal nerve.
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In a recent episode of his podcast, The Weekly Scraps, on his YouTube channel, 'Funk Master' gave his prediction about the main event of UFC 299. He said:
''I'm leaning towards O'Malley to get it done. I'm gonna say, I don't think he finish by decision, maybe split decision. I'm saying split decision.''
When asked by his co-host, Jake Fine, how exciting he thinks the fight will be, Sterling said:
''I'm saying this is Derrick Lewis vs Francis Ngannou or Rose Namajunas vs. Carla Esparza.''
Check out Aljamain Sterling's comments below (22:15):
Sterling is set to make his featherweight debut against Calvin Kattar at the UFC 300 on April 13 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Aljamain Sterling plans to take over UFC’s featherweight division
Aljamain Sterling revealed his intentions for his entry into the UFC featherweight division and seemed to be done competing at 135 pounds.
The former bantamweight champion will take on No. 7-ranked Calvin Kattar in his featherweight debut at UFC 300. While speaking to MMA Junkie, he expressed his excitement about competing at a heavier weight. He mentioned that he feels great and intends to make a statement against Kattar, saying:
"I'm gonna have new life, new energy at this weight class, and I'm definitely nervous cause I'm used to being the bigger guy even though I don't get that big when I rehydrate at [1]35. But, I think I left some stuff in the gym cutting down to 135 [pounds], so I'd like to see what I could do at 145 [pounds] and I think I'm gonna shock the world."
