UFC 299 is headlined by a bantamweight title fight between Sean O’Malley and Marlon Vera, with a co-main event featuring Dustin Poirier taking on Benoit Saint Denis in a five-round fight, and you can watch the cold open for the pay-per-view card below.
In the main event, O’Malley makes the first defense of his UFC bantamweight title by taking on the only man to beat him in MMA, “Chito” Vera. O’Malley enters the fight off his fantastic TKO finish of Aljamain Sterling in August to claim the belt, and now hopes to continue ascending the ranks of superstardom with another spectacular win.
A year ago, Vera lost a decision to Cory Sandhagen that seemed to set his title hopes back, but after an impressive win over Pedro Munhoz at UFC 292, and O’Malley’s title win later that evening, Vera’s popularity and his built-in rivalry with O’Malley turned things around and punched his ticket to the title shot.
In the co-main event, former interim lightweight champion Poirier joins an elite club when he steps into the octagon for the 30th time in his career, opposite the ascending talent Benoit Saint Denis. Most recently losing to Justin Gaethje in their UFC 291 rematch, Poirier looks to jump back into a muddled lightweight title picture with a win over the emerging French star.
The pride of France, Benoit Saint Denis has made a name of himself as one of the most exciting fighters in MMA since joining the UFC in 2021. On a five-fight wining streak since dropping down to lightweight, “BSD” has a 100-percent finishing rate and three post-fight bonuses to his name. Most recently, he knocked out Matt Frevola at UFC 295 to earn his place in the lightweight top 15 and get a shot at one of the division’s most respected fighters.
UFC 299 takes place this Saturday at the Kaseya Center in Miami, with the main card airing exclusively on ESPN+ pay-per-view.
This story originally appeared on MMA fighting
