Henry Cejudo simply believes Marlon Vera is just a bad matchup for newly crowned UFC bantamweight champion Sean O'Malley.
Vera (21-8-1 MMA, 15-7 UFC) is the only person to beat O’Malley, stopping him by first-round TKO in August 2020. O’Malley (17-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC) hasn’t lost since then, dethroning Aljamain Sterling with a second-round TKO to claim the 135-pound title in the UFC 292 main event.
O’Malley wants his first title defense against “Chito,” who defeated Pedro Munhoz on the same night O’Malley claimed gold. Cejudo lauded O’Malley for his movement, feints, ability to set traps, and precision, but he doesn’t see him having the durability to handle Vera.
“Let’s get down to Sean O’Malley’s weaknesses,” Cejudo said on his YouTube channel. “Weakness No. 1, to me, is the durability, his threshold, him looking at the clock, him fighting three-round fights, but yet he’s looking at the clock.
“He’s been fed a lot of tomato cans up to his last two fights, but stil … his No. 1 weakness in my eyes is his threshold, his ability to take pain and his ability to have that gas tank to go for five rounds.”
As for Vera, Cejudo acknowledges that he’s a slow starter with a ground game that needs improvement. But his ability to remain dangerous all he way until the end of the fight is what Cejudo thinks will give Vera the edge.
“His strength, he’s not a quitter,” Cejudo said. “‘Chito’ Vera, he doesn’t have quit in him. He will fight you to the very last round. He has that hope in him that he will somehow catch you with that kick as he caught Frankie Edgar, catch you with that kick as he caught Dominick Cruz. His greatest asset is his durability, his will to go to the very end whether he loses or not, but he’s going.”
Prior to beating Munhoz, Vera had suffered a lopsided loss to Cory Sandhagen. So, the thought of Vera possibly becoming champion is baffling to Cejudo.
“I cannot believe that ‘Chito’ is about to become champion,” Cejudo said. “I really can’t. … The reason why I believe ‘Chito’ Vera is going to beat a guy like Sean O’Malley is because of the endurance and the actual heart.”
If O’Malley does end up rematching Vera, Cejudo predicts a late finish for Vera.
“This fight is really tailor-made for somebody like ‘Chito’ Vera,” Cejudo said. “The simple fact that you keep your hands up, you don’t react to a lot of the stuff. You just bring the fight to a guy like that who’s never gone five rounds. At least (Vera has) gone five rounds, at least (Vera has) trained for more five rounds. I could easily see ‘Chito’ Vera by stoppage, maybe within the fourth or fifth round. Mark my words.”
