Ever since suffering his first career loss to Marlon “Chito” Vera in 2020, Sean O’Malley has maintained that it was a fluke. And he finally got revenge Saturday night.

O’Malley defeated Vera via unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-44) to retain the UFC bantamweight title for the first time in the UFC 299 main event at Kaseya Center in Miami.

It was a masterful performance for O’Malley, whose timing, accuracy, and speed gave Vera major problems in what was a five-round rout in the stand-up department.

 

“Chito’s as tough as they get,” O’Malley said in his postfight interview. “That one felt good, getting that one back. I guess we can all agree that I’m undefeated still.”

O’Malley outlanded Vera 230-89, which is the fourth-largest strike differential in a UFC championship bout. Vera absorbed heavy shots all fight, including a flush knee to the head in Round 2, but did not go down once. O’Malley said he “felt something in (Vera’s) face break” when he landed the knee.

Vera is now tied with UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones for the most fights in the promotion without being finished (23), according to ESPN Stats & Info.

“(O’Malley) put on a clinic, and I don’t know if anybody can finish Chito Vera,” UFC CEO Dana White said at the postfight press conference. “I mean, that guy’s got a chin like nothing I’ve ever seen.”

After the win, O’Malley called for a superfight with featherweight champion Ilia Topuria in Spain. He said he wants that matchup because the idea of moving to 145 pounds excites him and Topuria is a “scary f—–g dude.”

“Dana, get me a jet to Spain, baby, I’m coming for Ilia Topuria,” O’Malley said in the cage. “And if he doesn’t want it – nah, f–k it, I want Ilia, baby. Give me Ilia.”

O’Malley added that he is also willing to defend his bantamweight title against No. 1 contender Merab Dvalishvili next. White said after Dvalishvili’s win over former champion Henry Cejudo at UFC 298 in February that the Georgia native would challenge the O’Malley-Vera winner.

“Obviously, I’m here for whatever,” O’Malley said. “If you guys want me to knock out Merab, I’ll do that, too.”

O’Malley dominated Vera from start to finish. The champion cruised in the first three rounds, using his reach advantage to control the distance and land hard shots from the outside. O’Malley landed a variety of strikes – jabs, straight punches, leg kicks, knees – and avoided almost all of Vera’s offense with his elite footwork.

Already in need of a finish to win the title, Vera’s best round was arguably the fourth. The challenger showed more aggression and had some success in the pocket. But O’Malley still landed the more damaging blows.

In the fifth round, O’Malley hurt Vera and landed shots against the fence, seeking a late finish. Vera appeared to catch a punch in his eye, which bothered him throughout the round. Vera landed a hard punch to O’Malley’s body as the fight ended.

“I always knew he was a great fighter,” Vera said of O’Malley. “We can talk shit to each other, we can act funny, whatever. But I know he’s a good striker. I tried to stay toe-to-toe with him and catch him. At the end of the fifth round, I landed a nice body shot that hurt him. But I ran out of time. Hat’s off to him tonight. He did well. He did better than me.”

With the victory, O’Malley avenged a first-round TKO loss to Vera, which took place at UFC 252 in August 2020 and remains his only defeat in pro MMA. In that bout, Vera landed a kick that injured a nerve in O’Malley’s leg and compromised him. Vera then got on top and finished O’Malley with elbows on the ground. But O’Malley has been adamant for the last three-and-a-half years that it was not a legitimate victory for Vera, going as far as to call himself undefeated.

O’Malley is now on a seven-fight unbeaten streak. He captured the 135-pound belt last August by knocking out Aljamain Sterling in the second round. O’Malley lifted his UFC record to 10-1 (1 NC) with the victory over Vera.

Vera received a title shot after beating Pedro Munhoz at UFC 292 last August on the undercard of O’Malley-Sterling. The Ecuadorian is now 1-2 in his last three fights.

“This isn’t it for me,” Vera said. “I’m gonna keep coming, I’m gonna get better. I’ll be back and I’m gonna be champion one day.”