In the Clinch: O’Malley Looks To Even Up With Vera, UFC 299 – It’s been almost four years since Marlon Vera shocked the world by stopping Sean O’Malley at UFC 252. Both fighters are anxious to run it back.
O’Malley (17-1-0, 1NC), 29, used the defeat as an opportunity to get better, which he has. He’s gone unbeaten in six fights, with a no-contest against Pedro Munhoz. In that span, ‘Suga’ fought against tough competition and came out clean on the other side. Most impressive was putting away Aljamain Sterling in the second round at UFC 292 last August.
‘Suga’ should be ready to go.
Meanwhile, the No. 5 Vera (23-8-1), 31, hasn’t done too badly himself since upsetting O’Malley. He is 5-2-0 with narrow losses to Cory Sandhagen and the retired great Jose Aldo. He has beaten other legends in Frankie Edgar and Dominick Cruz.
This time, Vera can strike gold with another big win on Saturday.
Both seem to be in reasonable health, so it is another close fight on paper. O’Malley’s takedown defense should be improved which I expect Vera to test in the championship rounds. A few minutes of ground control could make the difference. So, it is important for O’Malley to score as many points possible with his striking.
The backup fighter is the No. 1 contender, Merab Dvalishvili (17-4-0), 33. Whoever wins will have his hands full against Merab. But for now, this should be a closely contested battle on all fronts. O’Malley will look to keep the fight standing, while Vera knows he can dictate how this fight plays out with a takedown or two.
Sterling claimed to have heard that Vera did not have a great training camp. It’s hard to verify if that is true, but he has business to take care of at featherweight against Calvin Kattar at UFC 300.
The more I think about this fight, Merab Dvalishvili could be the big winner.
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Sean O’Malley
Marlon Vera
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