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UFC bantamweight champion Sean O'Malley is targeted to put his title on the line against former foe Marlon Vera, likely in the main event of UFC 299, scheduled for March 2024.
O'Malley clinched the 135-pound title with a second-round TKO victory over Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292 in August. Since then, 'Sugar' has expressed his desire to have a rematch with Vera for his first title defense. UFC CEO Dana White made this bout official on Monday, alongside two other main events scheduled for the first quarter of 2024.
Check out White's announcement below:
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Sean O'Malley recently appeared on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani and shared his enthusiasm for the upcoming bout:
"I want that fight. It’s just perfect. I feel like it’s perfect timing. I could’ve gotten that rematch whenever I wanted. I was like, it’s not the right time yet. Now is the right time, so I’m just very excited about that fight. I’m going to smoke this dude." [h/t MMA Fighting]
During the interview, the bantamweight kingpin had an unexpected interruption when Marlon Vera joined the conversation. Host Ariel Helwani revealed that 'Chito' had persistently made video calls until O'Malley encouraged him to answer. What followed was a passionate exchange of verbal jabs between the former adversaries.
However, when Helwani probed Vera about his thoughts on the upcoming rematch, it seemed that Vera was unaware of the official announcement.
Check out the video below:
Sean O'Malley and Marlon Vera first clashed at UFC 252 in August 2020, where Vera secured a first-round knockout victory, marking O'Malley's sole professional MMA loss. However, the 29-year-old American persistently asserts that the defeat was a stroke of luck.
How does Sean O'Malley view his past defeat against Marlon Vera?
During their match in 2020, Marlon Vera struck a nerve in Sean O'Malley's leg with a powerful calf kick, leading to O'Malley's loss of balance and ultimately resulting in a ground-and-pound stoppage in favor of the Ecuadorian.
In the aforementioned interview, 'Sugar' pointed out that the peculiar way the match ended is why he doesn't hold the outcome against him. Furthermore, he expressed confidence that 'Chito' won't be able to duplicate the same feat in a rematch:
"It’s just, why isn’t that happening [more]? I mean, I guess it happens every once a while — that nerve, right? But how many times? I feel like it was so lucky, and he knows it. He truly, deep down knows it. That was so lucky. He's genuinely scared of me. I know you're watching 'Chito', you know I’m way too fast for you and you ain’t going to be able to do sh*t to me, bud. He knows it. ... I think he’s very nervous for this fight, 100 percent. He's too slow. What are you going to do? I’m going to piece him up."
Watch O'Malley's full interview below:
