"Cold-blooded killer" Marlon Vera knows title fight was gifted, not earned: Sean O'Malley

Sean O'Malley believes Marlon Vera knows he realistically shouldn't be fighting him for the bantamweight title.

On March 9. at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida, O'Malley is set to make his first title defence against Vera in a rematch of their 2020 bout. 'Chito' is currently the only fighter to hold a victory over 'Sugar', after a leg kick thrown in the first compromised O'Malley's leg, leading to a TKO victory.

Despite the loss on his record, O'Malley has regularly maintained that he is still undefeated in his career and has dismissed the defeat at the hands of Vera.

The 29-year-old believes he would have won the fight if the leg kick thrown by the Venezuelan hadn't caught his peroneal nerve, which effectively 'shut down' his foot for a brief period of time.

Ahead of their bout this weekend, O'Malley sat down with Brett Okamoto of ESPN MMA. During the interview, the bantamweight champ was asked whether or not Vera would be fighting for the title if he wasn't the champion.

According to O'Malley, 'Chito' is aware of that fact but he doesn't believe it will affect his mindset heading into their bout. He said:

"I think Chito is a cold-blooded killer but I don't think it's gonna phase him that he's been gifted this title shot. Do I think he knows that? Yeah, he knows... He didn't even finish Pedro [Munhoz] so there's no way he's coming in thinking 'I earned this title fight.' He knows he's getting it because I'm the champ."

Catch Sean O'Malley's comments here (10:48):

Aljamain Sterling predicts winner of Sean O'Malley vs. Marlon Vera II

Former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling recently shared his prediction on UFC 299's main event between Sean O'Malley and Marlon Vera.

Sterling is currently preparing to make his featherweight debut at UFC 300, after losing the 135-pound title to 'Sugar' in their clash at UFC 292.

Speaking in the latest episode of his The Weekly Scraps podcast on his YouTube channel, 'Funk Master' has predicted a close-fought win for O'Malley, but ultimately believes the fight won't live up to its hype. He explained:

''I'm leaning towards O'Malley to get it done. I'm gonna say, I don't think he finishes by decision, maybe split decision. I'm saying split decision.''

He added:

''I'm saying this is Derrick Lewis vs Francis Ngannou or Rose Namajunas vs. Carla Esparza.''

Catch Sterling's comments here (22:16):