Landing undisputed bantamweight gold last night in the main event of UFC 292, newly-minted division champion, Sean O’Malley has already set his sights on his first target, calling for a hasty rematch with fellow card winner and former-foe, Marlon Vera at UFC 296 in December.
Headlining his first pay-per-view event under the banner of the promotion, surging striker, O’Malley clinched the undisputed bantamweight crown with a spectacular second round finish of the dominant defending champion, Aljamain Sterling.
Managing to avoid takedown attempts from the Uniondale wrestling ace throughout a cagey first round, O’Malley dropped the defending bantamweight champion with a massive counter right straight early in the second round, faceplanting Sterling before following up with well-placed ground strikes to earn his bantamweight title victory to a raucous reception at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.
Sean O’Malley calls for title rematch with Marlon Vera at UFC 296
And following his title-clinching win, Montana native, O’Malley, who was urged to first defend his title against either streaking contenders, Merab Dvalishvili, or Cory Sandhagen, however, issued a direct call out to Ecuadorian contender, Vera – whom is the sole professional to defeat O’Malley throughout his career.
“I said going into this fight, it only takes one mistake against me,” Sean O’Malley told Joe Rogan during his post-fight interview after UFC 292. “I don’t even know if that was a mistake – I’m just that f*cking good. This is just the beginning of the ‘Suga’ era, I’m running this sh*t until 2035, baby. Did ‘Chito’ (Marlon Vera) win? Was it boring. Probably. I’ll whoop ‘Chito’s ass in December in Vegas at T-Mobile. Let’s f*cking go.”
Himself opening the main card of UFC 292 last night in Boston, Massachusetts, Vera managed to turn in a unanimous decision win over common-foe, Pedro Munhoz in a tightly-contested matchup.
And immediately reacting to a call out for a title rematch with O’Malley, Vera appeared to accept a December turnaround at UFC 296.
“Take a seat kids,” Marlon Vera posted on his official X account. “(Money bag emoji) Send me contract ok.”
Send me contact ok
— C H
T O
T O
V E R A (@chitoveraUFC)
Facing O’Malley in the co-main event of UFC 252 in the summer of 2020, Vera managed to hand the Dana White’s Contender Series veteran with a first round ground strikes TKO win at the UFC Apex facility.