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Alexander Volkanovski may not be the Featherweight champion anymore, but the Australian contender remains one of the sport’s best minds, an adept strategist and gifted MMA analyst. In a recent YouTube video, “The Great” broke down the UFC 299 main event between Sean O’Malley and Marlon Vera, which will go down this weekend (Sat. March 9, 2024) from Miami, Florida.
Spoiler alert: Volkanovski is expecting the champion to retain his Bantamweight belt. According to Volkanovski, O’Malley’s kickboxing is simply too high level for Vera, and the striking will decide the fight.
“Interesting fight,” Volkanovski said (via MMA Junkie). “On paper and what I’ve seen, who do I lean towards? I lean towards Sean O’Malley, pretty comfortably I’d say that. They’ve already fought, so you’ve got to give that respect where ‘Chito’ has already beat him. Do I feel he can do the same things to Sean? I think that’s going to be hard. I know he’s already beat Sean, but I think Sean’s striking is high level.
“I think it’s pretty underrated. I think people know it’s good, but I don’t think people understand how good it is. His shot selections, his variety in strikes, angles, distance management, his eye. All of that is top-notch. Very, very high level. He’s still young, he’s still in his prime. He’s probably still finding his prime. It just depends now that he’s champion, is he still putting the hard yards in?”
Unbeaten in his last six bouts, O’Malley is riding a hell of a win streak into his first title defense, having most recently stopped Aljamain Sterling in a pretty flawless victory (watch it). The most recent (and only) man to defeat him is none other than “Chito,” who won his last bout versus Pedro Munhoz to score this grudge match do-over.
Ultimately, Volkanovski believes it doesn’t make the final bell.
“I think it’s going to be a standup fight, which is exciting. You know ‘Chito’ is going to bring it. I just think the movement and that’s going to be too much. I think knowing how Sean O’Malley is going to look for the finish, he’s creative and he’s got a good eye. I think it’s going to be a finish for Sean O’Malley. It could be a submission, but I think it’s going to be a TKO because even if he hurts him and takes him to the ground, I can’t see him looking for a submission.”
If anything happens to either O’Malley or Vera before Saturday night, Merab Dvalishvili is waiting in the wings.
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Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
