Minting himself as the new undisputed bantamweight champion last weekend at UFC 292, Sean O’Malley has opended as a significant betting favorite to avenge his sole professional career loss, in a potential rematch with Ecuadorian finisher, Marlon Vera.
O’Malley, who headlined UFC 292 over the couse of the weekend at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts, managed to land the undisputed bantamweight title with a stunning second round TKO win over dominant gold holder, Aljamain Sterling.
As for Vera, the Chone native returned to the winner’s enclosure in the main card opener of the same event, defeating common-foe, Pedro Munhoz in a hotly-contested unanimous decision win in ‘Bean Town’.
And in the immediate aftermath of his title victory, Montana native, Sean O’Malley called for a title defense re-run with Jason Parillo trainee, Vera, suggesting a matchup as soon as UFC 296 in December.
Sean O’Malley opens as betting favorite to defeat Marlon Vera
With odds for a potential championship rematch between O’Malley and Vera already available, the newly-minted gold holder has opened as an impressive -198 betting favorite to defeat Ecuador native, Vera, who is sitting as a +164 betting underdog.
A host of markets and bookies are already taking wagers and punts on a future fight between O’Malley and Vera, including real money online casino Canada – as the newly-minted gold holder attempting to get off the mark in the wake of his championship reign.
Initially meeting back in 2020, O’Malley, then in the midst of his initial run through bantamweight contenders, suffered an eventual first round ground strikes TKO loss to Vera, who capitalized after landing a debilitating leg kick on the Montana native, limiting his movement throughout the frame early on.
Following his win, Vera used his momentum to land a high-profile fight with former featherweight champion and former bantamweight title chaser, Jose Aldo, ultimately dropping a decision loss to the Manaus native.
However, in the time since, Vera has landed wins in five of his last six, including Saturday’s judging win over Munhoz. Seeing his four-fight winning run halted earlier this year, Vera was outworked by Cory Sandhagen over the course of five rounds, having landed prior decision wins over both Davey Grant, and Rob Font – as well as brutal high-kick KO wins over both former champions, Frankie Edgar, and Dominick Cruz.
17-1(1) as a professional, in the midst of a six-fight undefeated run since his first career loss against Vera, O’Malley managed to earn his title clash with Sterling off the back of a close split decision win over former undisputed champion, Petr Yan in October of last year.
Along with initial odds favoring O’Malley in a title fight rematch with Vera, the latter has also gazumped other bantamweight contenders as the favorite to first and foremost face the newly-crowned titleholder in his first outing as champion – beating out the likes of Merab Dvalishvili, Aljamain Sterling, Cory Sandhagen, Henry Cejudo, and Petr Yan.
At the time of publication, markets are offering Vera as short as a +140 to come as O’Malley’s first opponent during the Dana White’s Contender Series alum’s first walk as undisputed bantamweight champion.
Would you like to see Sean O’Malley rematch Marlon Vera next?