Bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley headlines this weekend’s UFC 299 fight card in a rematch with Marlon “Chito” Vera. It will be O’Malley’s first title defense.
When the two first fought at UFC 252 in August 2020, Vera stopped O’Malley in the first round. It’s O’Malley’s only career defeat. He’ll have the opportunity to avenge that loss, but former two-division champion Henry Cejudo doesn’t think he will.
“Sean O’Malley has come a long way. What is it that makes his striking really good? It’s his movement,” Cejudo said on his YouTube channel. “He’ll carry everything with his feints. He does a really good job of juking and getting people to pause and getting people to freeze before he actually attacks.”
“It’s been super impressive what he’s been able to do with his movement and obviously his striking. His ability to set traps. He’ll use the movements to get people to follow for him to eventually start going. So now he’s using his lateral movement to get people to follow to set the trap to eventually cha-cha, do his fake, his feint and eventually go and catch you with something big,” Cejudo continued.
Looking at Vera’s strengths, Cejudo wondered if he could have success on the ground with O’Malley. He’s also already beaten O’Malley once.
“He knows how to press people. He presses people and the way that he does it, he’s locked in. He’s loaded. He doesn’t care if you hit him. He’s going to pretty much take that distance and turn it into a dog fight,” said Cejudo.
“His ground game. 43 percent of his wins come via submission. This dude is tricky on his back. He’s looking for submissions. He’s super active off of there,” Cejudo continued.
“He’s the only person to defeat Sean O’Malley. He’s done it before. He knows what it’s like to be in there with him. Has Sean really changed or evolved that much? I will say this, if there’s one area this man could expose him is that damn leg kick. And I think he knows that. It’ll always be there because Sean has the exact same stance. He’s a lot further out now but he still has that leg.”
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Cejudo expects O’Malley have be dangerous in the first couple of rounds. Knowing that Vera has a tendency of starting slow, Cejudo sees him getting better as the fight goes on.
“Triple-C” predicted that the title bout will not go the distance. He also predicted that the belt will change hands.
“I’m sorry Sean but I still don’t think you’ll get past. I still think you’re a clown and… yeah, I lost. I’ll take it, but I think you’re about to lose,” Cejudo said. “I believe if Chito sticks to the game plan, kicks your f**king leg. He runs you down for five rounds and just stalks you and catches you looking at the clock.”
“I do believe that Chito Vera is not only going to beat Sean O’Malley but he’s actually going stop him. I’m going Chito Vera via stoppage maybe within the fourth or fifth round,” Cejudo continued. “I think for that reason it could be an easy fight for the one and only Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera.”
https://www.mmaweekly.com/news/henry-cejudo-makes-bold-prediction-for-clown-sean-omalley-vs-marlon-vera
