“I feel like I’m just a different level fighter. That would be like fighting someone backwards.”
Sean O’Malley believes he’s back in the driver’s seat following Marlon Vera’s decision loss to Jose Aldo at UFC Vegas 17.
Vera actually beat O’Malley via first-round TKO at UFC 252, but ‘Suga’ believes ‘Chito’ will be begging for a rematch in due course.
O’Malley still feels he’s on a ‘different level’ to Vera and says accepting a rematch with the No. 14-ranked bantamweight would be like taking a step backwards because Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera is soon to become Marlon ‘Prelim’ Vera.
“For me to rematch (Vera), he’ll have to be on a win streak. It’ll have to make sense,” O’Malley said on his YouTube channel (h/t Clyde Aidoo of MMA News). “I feel like I’m just a different level fighter. That would be like fighting someone backwards.”
“He said there’s not enough money in the world to fight me again. But dude, if he loses another fight and he’s like, ‘I want to fight Sean.’ He’s about to be Chito ‘Prelim’ Vera.”
O’Malley hasn’t fought since his loss to Vera but is expected to return to the octagon next year.