Aljamain Sterling thinks there’s a big chance that Marlon Vera beats UFC bantamweight champion Sean O'Malley again.
O’Malley (17-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC) is expected to rematch Vera (21-8-1 MMA, 15-7 UFC) in his first title defense.
Vera handed O’Malley his first and only career loss in August 2020, when he dropped him with a leg kick to his peroneal nerve and followed it with brutal ground-and-pound to finish the fight. O’Malley called the loss a fluke, but Sterling thinks underdog Vera will get the job done again if they run things back.
“There is a good chance that ‘Chito’ can actually beat Sean O’Malley,” Sterling said on his YouTube channel. “And I know people are saying this is an easy win, but this is how deep the division is. I’m saying right now I’m predicting an upset. I’m predicting an upset that ‘Chito’ is going to beat Sean again.”
Sterling (23-4 MMA, 15-4 UFC) lost the title to O’Malley by knockout at UFC 292, but he doesn’t rate O’Malley’s power very highly. He thinks despite the unfortunate ending, O’Malley’s first fight with “Chito” was very telling and doesn’t expect O’Malley’s cardio to hold up for five rounds.
“If you watch the first fight with them, Sean does the same thing,” Sterling said. “He throws one-off shots. ‘Chito’ was just walking him down and eventually he threw the one kick – OK, let’s erase the kick. We saw what happened when he hit the ground. The leg has nothing to do with him defending punches and elbows from his back. I would imagine that the fanbase would agree with that, right? But on the feet, people are saying he’s too slow, he’s too hittable, he starts too slow. O’Malley is not a knockout artist. He hasn’t knocked out Petr Yan. They’re going to say, ‘Oh, he knocked you out.’ Guys, he did not. Come on, let’s be real. I ran into the shot the same way I did with Marlon Moraes.
“I don’t run into the shot, he hits me with that shot, I’m still standing. … But you look at the ‘Chito’ fight, he’s not one-punching ‘Chito’ unless ‘Chito’ was to run forward the same way I did and get sniped. It’s not happening. ‘Chito’ stays in the same spot, and he’s going to sit there, be patient, walk him down, hands up, he’s going to throw those long kicks, he’s very durable. I think we’ve seen that even in the Sandhagen fight. He’s got a great gas tank. Sean gets tired. I’m not being a hater, just calling it what it is. There’s a very good chance that ‘Chito’ is going to get this upset.”
