Marlon “Chito” Vera is awaiting his first career title shot.
The Bantamweight division in Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) was flipped upside down at UFC 292 in Boston, Massachusetts in August 2023. Finishing the reigning champion, Aljamain Sterling, via second round technical knockout (watch highlights), Sean O’Malley became the eighth champion in the division’s history.
Vera also picked up a victory that same night, getting back on the winning track with a unanimous decision nod over Pedro Munhoz. The win has seemingly set up a likely rematch between Vera and O’Malley’s August 2020 encounter, which saw Vera get his hand raised via first round technical knockout. Despite the level of progression each has made since then, the former champion, Sterling, expects the same outcome.
“There is a good chance that ‘Chito’ can actually beat Sean O’Malley,” Sterling said on his YouTube channel (h/t MMA Junkie). “And I know people are saying this is an easy win, but this is how deep the division is. I’m saying right now I’m predicting an upset. I’m predicting an upset that ‘Chito’ is going to beat Sean again.”
O’Malley’s first and only career loss (17-1, 1 no contest) came as a result of Vera’s strong leg kick game shutting down and injuring “Suga” before nasty ground and pound work forced the stop. ‘Chito’s’ counter abilities have been arguably his biggest strength on his seven-fight stretch since.
In Sterling’s mind, O’Malley hasn’t made too many changes that would disrupt the always-violent Ecuadorian.
“If you watch the first fight with them, Sean does the same thing,” Sterling said. “He throws one-off shots. ‘Chito’ was just walking him down and eventually, he threw the one kick — OK, let’s erase the kick. We saw what happened when he hit the ground. The leg has nothing to do with him defending punches and elbows from his back. I would imagine that the fanbase would agree with that, right? But on the feet, people are saying he’s too slow, he’s too hittable, he starts too slow. O’Malley is not a knockout artist. He hasn’t knocked out Petr Yan. They’re going to say, ‘Oh, he knocked you out.’ Guys, he did not. Come on, let’s be real. I ran into the shot the same way I did with Marlon Moraes.
“I don’t run into the shot, he hits me with that shot, I’m still standing. … But you look at the ‘Chito’ fight, he’s not one-punching ‘Chito’ unless ‘Chito’ was to run forward the same way I did and get sniped,” he continued. “It’s not happening. ‘Chito’ stays in the same spot, and he’s going to sit there, be patient, walk him down, hands up, he’s going to throw those long kicks, he’s very durable. I think we’ve seen that even in the Sandhagen fight. He’s got a great gas tank. Sean gets tired. I’m not being a hater, just calling it what it is. There’s a very good chance that ‘Chito’ is going to get this upset.”
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
