In August 2020, Sean O’Malley suffered his first and only defeat in professional MMA against Marlon Vera. Now, almost four seasons later and with the UFC bantamweight title in his possession, the fighter known as ‘Sugar’ will have the opportunity to seek revenge against the only opponent who defeated him in his career. The bout is scheduled for UFC 299 in March 2024 and has been met with great enthusiasm by the 29-year-old American champion.
During a recent appearance on ‘The MMA Hour’ program, O’Malley expressed his satisfaction with the announcement made by Dana White and emphasized the “perfect timing” of the fight. Despite his previous loss to Marlon Vera, the current champion displayed a lot of confidence in the 2024 rematch. It appears that the previous defeat still bothers him, as Sean promised a brutal outcome against the Ecuadorian fighter.
He stated: “I’m not more excited about any fight than this one. I want this fight; it’s perfect. The timing is perfect. After the first fight, everyone was saying, ‘You need to seek a rematch.’ I said, ‘I’ll seek the rematch when I want, when the time is right, I’ll ask for it and get it.’ I could have had this rematch whenever I wanted, but I thought, ‘It’s not the right time yet.’ Now it is. I’m very excited. I don’t want to speak ill of him because I have to promote the fight. But I’m going to dominate this guy. He’s genuinely scared of me. I’m too fast; he won’t be able to do anything to me. He knows that. He’s nervous about this fight, 100%. He’s very slow. What is he going to do? I’ll surpass him.”
To recall their first encounter, Sean O’Malley and Marlon Vera faced each other for the first time in August 2020 on the UFC 252 card. In that fight, O’Malley suffered a technical knockout defeat at the end of the first round, ending his unbeaten streak in his career. However, O’Malley has always contested the result, claiming that an injury he sustained during the bout influenced the fight’s outcome.
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