O’Malley places on present, routs Vera to remain champ

In an excellent efficiency, Sean O’Malley dominated Marlon Vera by unanimous choice to retain his bantamweight championship Saturday evening in the primary occasion of UFC 299 at Kaseya Heart in Miami.

O’Malley, who was defending his title for the primary time, swept the playing cards, with the judges scoring the bout 50-45, 50-45 and 50-44. It was candy revenge for O’Malley (18-1), who misplaced to Vera (23-9-1) by way of TKO of their first assembly in 2020 after a nerve in his proper foot went quantity from a Vera leg kick.

O’Malley seemed sharp within the opening spherical Saturday evening, exhibiting good accuracy along with his strikes whereas mixing in kicks to the leg and physique.

He continued to remain busy in Spherical 2, often connecting along with his proper hand. He badly damage Vera with a knee that caught him as he ducked his head down, opening up a minimize beneath Vera’s proper eye. Sensing that Vera was in hassle, O’Malley started to choose up the tempo along with his assault,, and Vera’s face was bloodied by the top of the spherical.

Vera tried to return out extra aggressively within the third spherical, however O’Malley did an excellent job shifting his ft and stopping Vera from stringing mixtures collectively. The punches continued to land in bunches for O’Malley, whose benefits in velocity, quantity and accuracy have been clear.

Vera, maybe sensing he was down massive, saved coming and had higher success in Spherical 4. He threw a flying knee that pinned O’Malley in opposition to the cage and started initiating the assault extra by urgent ahead. Blood started to trickle down O’Malley’s nostril by the center of the spherical, however Vera started to fade because the champion fought again, catching Vera with a tough left hand within the ultimate minute.

O’Malley damage Vera with a giant proper hand early within the ultimate spherical, inflicting the challenger to wince and again up in opposition to the cage and canopy up. O’Malley landed a knee after which a tough proper hand, and surprised Vera with a kick to the pinnacle. The champion nonetheless seemed recent and on his toes within the ultimate minute, peppering Vera with mixtures and knees to the physique. Vera caught O’Malley with a giant left hook to the physique, inflicting the champion to grimace, however it was too little, too late as the ultimate bell sounded.

O’Malley captured the 135-pound championship final August by knocking out longtime champ Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292.

Vera entered off a unanimous-decision win over Pedro Munhoz at UFC 292 and was 5-2 since his 2020 victory over O’Malley.