7 – Sean O’Malley VS Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera
Chito Vera defeats Sean O’Malley by KO in round 1, just think that O’Malley is is the UFC bantamweight champion now is ridiculous! pic.twitter.com/RGUhYpJDj6
— Fight King (@BestFightKing) October 18, 2023
Though their first fight ended awkwardly, the history between Sean O’Malley and Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera only adds to the excitement surrounding UFC 299’s main event. Since Chito took the ‘Suga Show’ off the air temporarily for the first, and thus far only, time in 2020, O’Malley bounced back, won five fights, five performances bonuses, and beat two of the best bantamweights in the world in order to plant his pink butt on the throne. Meanwhile, Chito went 5-2, losing to GOAT Jose Aldo and top contender Cory Sandhagen, but beating a host of other contenders and earning four bonuses of his own along the way. Their styles are both striking-heavy, but in diametrically opposed ways. Sean is a light-footed, movement-heavy fighter who shifts in and out of stances while confusing opponents with feints to pick the best spots to snipe them. Vera is a plodding tank in a bantamweight body, stalking forward with an insistence that his opponents meet him head to head so he can come out on top of the inevitable car crash when they collide. His durability is among the best in the sport, you never see Chito knocked down, or even bleed or look hurt despite the wars he finds himself in.
Chito has had difficulty with fighters who pose the threat that O’Malley does; he lost to the very similar Cory Sandhagen and had trouble with a post-prime ex-UFC bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz before knocking him out with a headkick while down on the scorecards. Yet that is just what Chito famously does, he fights almost like a heavyweight, he loses fights until he decides to win them, until he finds the one big shot. Usually, the seminal blow comes from him and his coach, the genius Jason Parillo, making an intelligent read. He read Cruz’s generally inscrutable patterns and baited him to run onto the headkick. He figured out Franke Edgar’s movements and front kicked him into oblivion in the third round of their fight. These are also heavily movement-based fighters, but were older and out of their primes.
Highlights showing some of Chito Vera’s nasty striking 🤮🇪🇨 pic.twitter.com/Yx8jta0oTo
— EJ 👹 (@ThatOneUFCFan) August 3, 2022
Sean O’Malley is a fighter of big moments too, just he is more consistent than Chito between those moments. His length, speed, variety, and accuracy give most opponents fits, even a boxer like Petr Yan, who is certainly more polished as a striker then Vera. But the inexorable pressure of Chito over five rounds is something O’Malley has not faced before, and in a longer fight Chito turns the pace up more as it goes and will have more time to find a finish. There will also be more chances for him to buckle and break Sean’s semi-literal Achilles Heel, his lower leg which lost him the first fight and broke against Andre Soukhamthath years ago. The other place where Chito poses a threat is the clinch. His elbows and knees are nasty, as well as utilizing trips which can put him in a dominant top position to bring his jiu-jitsu to bear. O’Malley is largely untested on the mat against a grappler, only having been taken down by wrestler-types in the UFC. His getup game is good, and Chito is not a reliable pick to try to take down anyone, but that is one avenue he could explore.
Although O’Malley is expected by most to avenge his loss, the danger Chito presents is quite real and will be in Sean’s face for five rounds, forcing action as much as Sean may try – and may have success with – avoiding it. The pair’s skills and resume of violence speak for themselves, though this could turn into a cagey fight if Sean tries to circle for five full rounds and Chito has trouble tracking him down, as we have seen before from the Ecuadorian. That is the only reason this fight is not near the top of the list, though it is still one of the best fights of the week, and of the year thus far.
