In a brilliant performance, Sean O’Malley dominated Marlon Vera by unanimous decision to retain his bantamweight championship Saturday night in the main event of UFC 299 at Kaseya Center in Miami.
O’Malley, who was defending his title for the first time, swept the cards, with the judges scoring the bout 50-45, 50-45 and 50-44. It was sweet revenge for O’Malley (18-1), who lost to Vera (23-9-1) via TKO in their first meeting in 2020 after a nerve in his right foot went numb from a Vera leg kick.
O’Malley looked sharp in the opening round Saturday night, showing good accuracy with his strikes while mixing in kicks to the leg and body.
He continued to stay busy in Round 2, regularly connecting with his right hand. He badly hurt Vera with a knee, catching him as he ducked his head down, and opened a cut below Vera’s right eye. Sensing that Vera was in trouble, O’Malley began to pick up the pace with his attack, and Vera’s face was bloodied by the end of the round.
Vera tried to come out more aggressively in the third round, but O’Malley did a good job moving his feet and stopping Vera from stringing combinations together. The punches continued to land in bunches for O’Malley, whose advantages in speed, volume and accuracy were clear.
Vera, perhaps sensing he was down big, kept coming and had better success in Round 4. He threw a flying knee that pinned O’Malley against the cage and began initiating the attack more by pressing forward. Blood began to trickle down O’Malley’s nose by the middle of the round, but Vera began to fade as the champion fought back. He stunned Vera with a hard left hand in the final minute.
O’Malley hurt Vera with a big right hand early in the final round, causing the challenger to wince and back up against the cage and cover up. O’Malley landed a knee and then a hard right hand, and stunned Vera with a kick to the head. The champion still looked fresh and on his toes in the final minute, peppering Vera with combinations and knees to the body. In the closing seconds of the fight, Vera caught O’Malley with a big left hook to the body, causing the champion to grimace, but it was too little, too late as the final bell sounded.
O’Malley captured the 135-pound championship last August by knocking out longtime champ Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292.
Vera entered off a unanimous-decision win over Pedro Munhoz at UFC 292 and was 5-2 since his 2020 victory over O’Malley.
