UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley thinks there is no chance Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera would be fighting for the title if he wasn’t champion. ‘Suga’ is gearing up to face #5 ranked ‘Chito’ in their UFC 299 rematch to try to avenge the only loss in his career.

And with Merab Dvalishvili and Cory Sandhagen ranked higher and having a better claim to a title shot than Vera, O’Malley felt that the only reason the UFC agreed to give ‘Chito’ a title shot was because he had unfinished business with the Ecuadorian. And O’Malley feels confident he will get the job done in Miami and repeat history, he told Brett Okamoto in an ESPN interview.

It’s already happened: Sean O’Malley on beating Vera

On being asked whether the location of his fights mattered to him, Sean O’Malley felt that the UFC had been very smart about where they have him fight and recalled his UFC 292 clash against then champion Aljamain Sterling at Boston, where he got overwhelming fan support.

And while he felt that he would not get such unanimous reception in Miami, he was confident he would deliver and compared his bout with Vera to Israel Adesanya‘s dramatic UFC 287 rematch with Alex Pereira, where ‘Izzy’ knocked out ‘Poatan’ in dramatic fashion to recapture the middleweight title and avenge his unexpected UFC 281 loss.

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“Boston was crazy. Miami is going to be a little bit different. I could fight anywhere and I’m it’s not going to phase me, but yeah, Miami will be a little bit different. I think it’s a perfect time to go to Miami. They always go all out in Miami. Izzy knocked out Alex Pereira in their rematch in Miami,” he said.

“I’m knocking out Chito in Miami in the rematch. It’s just, it’s already happened. I just got to go out there and do it,” he added. While the Montana native is certainly confident of victory, having attributed his loss to a freak injury, Vera will be a dangerous opponent for him. But, even if Sean O’Malley wins this Saturday, his next challenge is likely to be even more difficult.

Merab Dvalishvili and Ilia Topuria on O’Malley’s horizon if he beats ‘Chito’

After Merab Dvalishvili‘s unanimous decision victory over former two-division concurrent champion Henry Cejudo, UFC CEO Dana White confirmed that the Georgian is next in line for a bantamweight title shot. The winner of O’Malley-Vera will almost certainly face the dangerous Dvalishvili, whose world-class wrestling will be a stylistic nightmare for either man.

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However, if Sean O’malley can get through Vera and defend his title against Dvalishvili after that, he has possibly the most lucrative matchup in all of UFC on the horizon. Ilia Topuria, who knocked out Alexander Volkanovski in the second round of their UFC 298 bout to become the new featherweight champion and is on the cusp of superstardom, has been feuding with ‘Suga’ and has floated a potential matchup against him. If ‘Suga’ can play his cards right, he may be part of a fight that has the potential to be of similar magnitude as ‘Conor-Khabib’.

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