Sean O’Malley never wanted to count a past loss to Marlon “Chito” Vera on his record but he still got his revenge with a dominant performance in the UFC 299 main event.
If not for Vera’s iron chin and unbreakable will, O’Malley would have almost assuredly gone home with a finish on his record but instead he’ll leave Miami with a lopsided unanimous decision win. Round after round, O’Malley blasted away with a devastating arsenal on the feet and by the end of the fight Vera was busted up, bloodied and swelled to the point where it looked like his face got attacked by a swarm of bees.
The judges scored the fight 50-45, 50-45 and 50-44 with O’Malley successfully defending his title and erasing any doubt about his superiority in the rivalry with Vera.
“Chito’s as tough as they get,” O’Malley said about his win. “I guess we can all agree I’m undefeated still.”
It was a technical masterpiece from O’Malley as he beat Vera in every facet of the striking game without the fight ever hitting the floor over five rounds.
A sniper from the outside, O’Malley committed to his kicking game and then reaching with a long jab that kept finding a home on Vera’s chin. O’Malley also jabbed to the body to keep Vera guessing but never overextended himself to catch a potential knockout counter punch coming back at him from the challenger.
O’Malley continuously varied his attacks, going up top to the head with punches and kicks then digging to the body again. Vera just seemed to be a step behind O’Malley, who was the faster and more accurate striker on the feet.
With just over a minute left in the second round, O’Malley uncorked a massive knee strike up the middle that blasted Vere and snapped his head back in a violent motion. Still, Vera stayed stoic in the face of danger but O’Malley was just picking him apart and facing little resistance to his offensive onslaught.
“I felt something in his face break,” O’Malley said about the knee that blasted Vera. “I felt like something snapped.”
Vera struggled to make O’Malley pay for his high volume striking assault and by the midway point of the third round, he had a cut and significant swelling under his right eye from all the damage done. O’Malley didn’t slow down and never gave an inch as he continued to chip away at Vera in every exchange.
Realizing that time was running out on him, Vera finally started getting more aggressive while trying to make it a gritty fight, which is where he had his best chance to win. Vera connected with a few stiff shots, which resulted in blood trickling out of O’Malley’s nose but the champion escaped before he ever ate anything he couldn’t handle.
Even with Vera having his best moments in the fight, O’Malley was still the far better striker, especially in the numbers game where he was just outlanding his opponent by a wide margin.
With five minutes remaining, O’Malley didn’t take his foot off the gas as he kept coming after Vera including a right hand that stung Vera with a fist directly to his eye. Vera began covering up just trying to avoid a potential finish with O’Malley stalking him across the octagon.
O’Malley was doing anything but playing it safe as he continued to look for the knockout but Vera just refused to go down. It was a brilliant performance from O’Malley from start to finish as he decimated the only person to ever put a loss on his record.
Vera gave credit to O’Malley on a job well done but promised that this won’t be the last time he’ll compete for UFC gold before his career is over.
“I’ll be back,” Vera said. “I’ll be champion one day. O’Malley, I always said he was a great fighter. We can talk s*** to each other, but I know he’s a good striker. I tried to stay toe-to-toe with him to catch him. He did well. He did better than me. We’ll be back.”
As far as what’s next for O’Malley, he’s still holding out hope that the UFC will allow him to change divisions and seek a second title to add to his collection but it’s tough to imagine that will happen with top ranked challenger Merab Dvalishvili waiting in the wings.
“Dana [White], get me a jet to Spain. I’m coming for Ilia Topuria,” O’Malley shouted. “I want Ilia, give me Ilia. He’s a scary f****** dude. Ilia excites me, going up a weight class excites me.
“Honestly, I’m here for whatever, If you guys want me to knock out Merab, I’ll do that, too but Ilia’s an exciting fight for the people.”
This story originally appeared on MMA fighting