UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley thoroughly outclassed Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera for five rounds to win their UFC 299 clash via a unanimous decision on Saturday. While ‘Suga’s speed and distance management were more than enough to deal with Vera, he did seem battered after the bout.
Vera caught ‘Suga’ with a nasty body shot in the closing moments of their fight, which visibly affected the champion. In addition, O’Malley was seen exiting the octagon with a limp and was later seen wearing a walker boot, which has raised concerns his foot might be injured.
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O’Malley addressed this in the UFC 299 post-fight press conference and said that his foot was in pain because of the surgery on his foot in 2018. “I’ve had pretty major surgery on this foot before so I think it tends to flare up after you kick someone in the head a few times. So I don’t think it’s anything serious, hopefully not. It’ll be swollen for a few weeks and we’ll be back to work.” ‘Suga’ told reporters.
In 2018, O’Malley suffered a foot injury during his fight against Andre Soukhamthath at UFC 222. He fought through the pain to secure a win via a unanimous decision. That bout is also remembered for ‘Suga’ giving a post-match interview flat on his back in the octagon, as he was unable to move due to his injury.
After his latest win, the Bantamweight Champion will hope that his injury doesn’t get too serious as he has already made up his mind about the next opponent he wants to face in the octagon.
Sean O’Malley calls out Ilia Topuria after UFC 299 win
Sean O’Malley called out newly minted featherweight champion Ilia Topuria after his dominant UFC 299 victory. ‘El Matador’ and ‘Suga’ have been feuding on social media for the past two years and the Spaniard had even floated a possible matchup with O’Malley following his spectacular UFC 298 victory over Alexander Volkanovski.
Dubbed to be the next big thing with uncanny parallels to Conor McGregor‘s career, Topuria seems on the cusp of superstardom. And moving up to face O’Malley (one of the most recognizable figures in the UFC) for a chance to become only the fifth concurrent two-division UFC champion would certainly help launch him into the stratosphere.
O’Malley, whom UFC boss Dana White called the most successful bantamweight in the promotion’s history, will see a similarly serious boost in his popularity if he can defeat Topuria. However, Dana White is not keen on the matchup yet and told reporters in the post-fight press conference that he would like both champions to face contenders in their respective weight classes first.
O’Malley will most likely face number one contender Merab Dvalishvili as his next title defense. Dana White confirmed this in the UFC 298 post-fight press conference after ‘The Machine’ defeated former champion Henry Cejudo via unanimous decision.
What did you think about O’Malley’s UFC 299 performance?
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Edited by
Joyita Das