Sean O'Malley is open to face Marlon 'Chito' Vera in trilogy fight, aiming to secure two knockout victories

UFC bantamweight champion Sean O'Malley appears to be taking the UFC 299 main event personally with claims of wanting to 'knock out' Marlon 'Chito' Vera as much as possible.

As one part of the electric UFC 299 pre-fight press conference, O'Malley was asked by reporter John Morgan about his potential interest in a trilogy bout with Vera should he defend his belt on March 9. The champion responded, saying he 'wouldn't mind' facing Vera once more in the future.

With a shrug, O'Malley said:

"I wouldn't mind knocking him out two times."

Through 19 professional fights, O'Malley's lone loss in his career came in 2020 against Vera at UFC 252. Since the first-round TKO loss, O'Malley has gone 5-0 with one no-contest, most recently finishing Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292 to win UFC gold.

Since their original meeting, Vera would go on to lose his next fight against Jose Aldo before putting together an impressive four-fight win streak to vault himself into the top five at bantamweight. Vera also last competed on the main card of UFC 292, beating Pedro Munhoz by unanimous decision.

Watch Sean O'Malley's comments on a potential trilogy against Marlon Vera at the UFC 299 press conference at 13:05 below:

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Watch as the crowd chants for 'Chito' during Sean O'Malley's response at UFC 299 press conference

For the first time in his UFC career, Sean O'Malley may not be the fan-favorite fighter at UFC 299.

As O'Malley attempted to answer the question from John Morgan at the event press conference gauging his interest in a potential trilogy with Marlon Vera, the champion was forced to pause before speaking as the chants of 'Chito' echoed through the Kaseya Center.

As the press conference moved forward, UFC CEO Dana White claimed the crowd present possibly created the most passionate press conference environment in promotional history.

Vera's popularity with the crowd was largely due to the significant size of Ecuadorian fans present at the event in support of their countryman. ESPN's Marc Raimondi reported that the number of reporters flown in from the challenger's home nation was enough to warrant a second media day done in Spanish ahead of his first title fight.