MIAMI – Sean O'Malley is making his first UFC bantamweight title defense against the only man to beat him, and he’s not fazed at all.
O’Malley returns to the cage against Marlon Vera in the main event of Saturday’s UFC 299 (pay-per-view, ESPNews, ESPN+). Despite having an official loss to Vera (21-8-1 MMA, 15-7 UFC), O’Malley (17-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC) is keeping his confidence at an all-time high and doesn’t count it as a loss on his record.
“Yeah, that fight never necessarily bothered me,” O’Malley said. “Look where I’m at now. That fight plays out a different way, I win that fight, and then next fight I fight somebody I wasn’t ready for, and I lose, and my career completely plays out differently. So I go out there and knock out Thomas Almeida like seven times with a beautiful performance, so I’m just grateful for everything that’s happened, but yeah, that fight has never really bothered me. I’m excited to go out there and do what I was going to do in that first fight.”
