Almost four years ago, Sean O’Malley suffered the only loss of his career and it came against Marlon ”Chito” Vera. Tonight, he’ll try to prove that loss was a fluke.
O’Malley (17-1) will defend his UFC bantamweight championship for the first time when he meets Vera (23-8-1) in the main event of UFC 299 at Kaseya Center in Miami. O’Malley lost via TKO in 2020 after a nerve in his right foot went numb from a Vera leg kick. O’Malley has given Vera credit for landing the kick, but has always maintained that it wasn’t a “true” loss because of the rarity of the nerve issue.
Both bantamweights have enjoyed a lot of success in the time since. O’Malley captured the 135-pound championship last August by knocking out longtime champ Aljamain Sterling. Vera is 5-2, with wins over multiple former champions in Frankie Edgar and Dominick Cruz.
Prior to the main event, Dustin Poirier retained his place in the lightweight division by knocking out rising prospect Benoit Saint Denis in the second round, Michael “Venom” Page made a successful UFC with a decision win over Kevin Holland, Jack Della Maddalena knocked out Gilbert Burns and Petr Yan surged in the final two rounds to deny Song Yadong a top ranking.
Follow along as Brett Okamoto, Marc Raimondi, Jeff Wagenheim and Dre Waters recap the action or watch the fights live on ESPN+ PPV.
