The main event in Miami features a rematch for the bantamweight title between Sean O’Malley and Marlon Vera.
Their first meeting went down nearly four years ago, and it unfortunately did not last long.
Although O’Malley was able to get off to a decent start with his kicking variations, it was a calf kick from Vera (at approx. the 2:55 mark of the first round) that changed the complexion of the entire fight. Causing some clear instability to O’Malley’s right leg, Vera was then able to pounce on his wounded prey and force a stoppage via ground-and-pound shortly after.
O’Malley still hasn’t seemed to accept this loss publicly, but — to his credit — has been able to bounce from this stumble in impressive fashion.
Despite looking like the second coming of Ziggy Sobotka from “The Wire,” there’s a lot more to O’Malley than meets the eye.
Although O’Malley initially struck me as a karate-boxing Conor McGregor clone when he first came off Dana White’s Contender Series, the native of Montana has appeared to use his chameleon-like abilities to piece together a solid striking game.
Competent from both stances, O’Malley flows and counters from the rear side like second nature. Whether he’s slipping on the inside to come over the top from orthodox or taking an angle to counter from southpaw, O’Malley’s ability to put opposition at the end of his punches is impeccable.
I’m also a big fan of O’Malley’s underrated bodywork, which could serve him well in this contest.
Whether he’s throwing crosses or front teeps, O’Malley does a good job of getting his opponent’s defenses to lower in order to open the door for change-ups high. That said, “The Sugar Show” might want to manage his finishing expectations and be on his best behavior against the challenger at hand.
Vera may not exactly be a pinpoint counter striker, but the Ecuadorian fighter has come a long way since his stint on the first season of “TUF: Latin America.”
Carrying a long frame for the division, Vera initially focused on a kick-heavy approach from a southpaw stance after making the move to California to train with Team Oyama. Vera will still shift forward while connecting kicks and punches, but the 31-year-old has cleaned up his boxing fundamentals since working with noted striking coach, Jason Parillo.
A former boxer who has helped former UFC champions like B.J. Penn and Michael Bisping, Parillo has seemingly imparted a lot of his knowledge to Vera.
Fighting much more competently and confidently out of an orthodox stance, it is now much more common to see Vera attempt to hit catch-and-pitch counters off of rear-handed parries, demonstrating good eyes in the pocket from start to finish.
Vera is also a fan of mixing things up to the body, doing a bulk of his striking damage in the clinch. Whether he is launching knees up the middle or slashing up-elbows off of collar ties that give me flashbacks to the ones that Jim Miller hit Joe Lauzon with back at UFC 155, Vera is a certified woodchipper within closed quarters.
I also suspect that Vera’s leg and calf kicks will serve him well in this contest, but he’ll need to be mindful of the potential counters and change-ups from O’Malley.
This story originally appeared on MMA Junkie