The “Suga Show” has been renewed for a second season.
Sean O’Malley made the first title defense of his bantamweight reign by turning away Marlon Vera in the UFC 299 pay-per-view (PPV) main event, held last Sat. night (March 9, 2024) inside Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida.
Watch the fight video highlights right here.
The victory avenged a previous defeat to “Chito” at UFC 252, although it’s worth pointing out the Suga State Athletic Commission already scrubbed that loss from O’Malley’s record, which is why the defending champ is still calling himself “undefeated.”
Maybe that camp was “bad” after all.
Vera had no answer for O’Malley’s rangy striking and seemed content to absorb punishment for all five rounds. “Chito” did have his moments in the second half of the fight, but they were few and far between and consisted of zero grappling.
Now “Suga” wants to test himself against UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria.
“Dana! Gimme a jet to Spain, baby! I’m coming for Ilia Topuria!” O’Malley said after the fight. “And if he doesn’t want it … nah, f*ck it, I want Ilia, baby, give me Ilia. He’s a scary f*cking dude, he excites me. Going up a weight class excites me. Honestly, I’m here for whatever. If you guys want me to knock out Merab, I’ll do that too, but Ilia is an exciting fight for the people.”
The Topuria callout didn’t sit well with No. 1-ranked bantamweight Merab Dvalishvili.
“I’m number 1 contender, fight me”@MerabDvalishvil wants his shot at the bantamweight title next #UFC299 pic.twitter.com/a6DofYBk3g
— UFC (@ufc) March 10, 2024
“What a piece of sh*t,” Dvalishvili said from the stands. “Now I’m so mad, I’m so pissed off. I’m so pissed he don’t call me out! C’mon bro, I’m number one contender — fight me bro! If you’re good then show the world. But you are a scared little skinny guy. You wanna call somebody who’s not gonna fight you.”
The promotion is hoping to stage an event in Spain while Topuria is still sitting pretty atop the featherweight roost. Booking a champ-champ fight against O’Malley seems like a long shot, but it would certainly do beaucoup bucks at the Spanish box office.
For more results and highlights from UFC 299 click here.