Just lately minted undisputed bantamweight champion, Sean O’Malley has made the outlandish declare that his sole skilled combined martial arts loss got here by his complete personal volition – insisting he allowed arch-rival, Marlon Vera to land a primary spherical TKO win over him in 2020, with the intention to setup a possible title re-run at UFC 296 later this yr.
O’Malley, the newly-crowned undisputed bantamweight champion, headlined UFC 292 again in August on the TD Backyard in Boston, Massachusetts, defeating the incumbent, Aljamain Sterling with a shocking second spherical TKO victory.
The victory noticed O’Malley grow to be simply the second Dana White’s Contender Collection alum to land Octagon spoils, after mild heavyweight striker, Jamahal Hill landed gold again in January in Brazil with a unanimous choice win over Glover Teixeira.
Sean O’Malley claims he allowed Marlon Vera defeat him again in 2020
Vowing to return to the Octagon earlier than the shut of the yr in a bid to headline UFC 296 in December, O’Malley, whose sole loss in MMA got here again in 2020 courtesy of a primary spherical TKO loss to the above-mentioned Ecuadorian finisher, Vera, claimed he misplaced the bout the Chone native “on objective”.
“I by no means misplaced sleep over this combat [with Marlon Vera],” Sean O’Malley informed MMA Combating throughout a latest interview. “I’ve truly been taking part in chess a very long time. I misplaced that combat on objective, simply so I might go on the market and knock out Aljo (Aljamain Sterling). And have that [rematch with Vera] be my largest combat. Rematch.”
“If I received to select if I used to be operating the present, I might say sure [a rematch with Vera was next], just because ‘Chito’ is the most important combat subsequent, not as a result of he had a phenomenal efficiency over Pedro (Munhoz). That’s not the case. If I combat ‘Chito’ subsequent, it’s as a result of that’s what I would like and that’s the most important combat. I’m within the combat enterprise and I would like huge fights.”
