Knockout Artist Vs. Durable Opportunist

Bantamweight rivals Sean O’Malley and Marlon Vera will go to war this weekend (Sat., March 9, 2024) at UFC 299 inside Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida.

O’Malley went from controversial prospect to 135-pound champion in the span of two fights. UFC jumped him up from unranked opposition nearly straight to No. 1 contender in Petr Yan — and credit to “Suga” — he made the most of the opportunity in a back-and-forth fight.

One year later, he knocked out Aljamain Sterling and completed his rise to gold (watch it).

Prior to that rise, Vera handed O’Malley the first loss via vicious knockout back in 2020 (full fight here). Since then, “Chito” has continued to establish himself as an elite Bantamweight, though the Ecuadorian athlete would not be fighting for a belt right now if not for their shared history.

Let’s take a closer look at the skills of each man:

Striking

O’Malley has excellent stand up skills and some of the best physical gifts at 135 pounds. As such, he has a lot of avenues towards offense. He fights seamlessly from both stances. He lands hard shots moving forward and backwards. He attacks the body more than most. He gives his opponent a lot to think about!

Building off that is O’Malley’s excellent use of feints. “Suga” is never just hanging out in the cage. He is constantly shoulder pumping to threaten his jab, a movement which brings his head forward and helps set up his pull counters. His lower body is just as active, as O’Malley shows little hip turnovers or half-steps with a raised knee, threatening kicks at all times.

Lots of options plus a lot of feints tends to open up a lot of opportunity.

For the most part, O’Malley is dedicated range fighter, mostly pursuing the pocket after hurting his opponents. He’s not afraid of extended combinations, but O’Malley does his best work when leading the dance with short combinations or kicks, then side-stepping or pulling to counter on his terms before fading away to safety.

At the edge of his range, O’Malley has a lot of powerful weapons. He can throw good round kicks to any target, but the front snap kick is more of the signature O’Malley weapon. It makes him feel even longer, and that stab to the mid-section is difficult to counter. More than just being a punishing weapon, O’Malley sets himself up to land punches from the snap kick. Sometimes, he’ll snap kick and then quickly replace the foot to counter as his opponent looks to step forward. Other times, O’Malley will use the threat of the snap kick to step forward, pivot to an angle, then attack with punches.

Worth noting: O’Malley has exceptionally fast spin kicks to the body and wheel kicks to the head from this range as well.

O’Malley scores a lot of his hardest shots countering opponents who want to push forward through his kicking range. Sometimes, it’s about replacing the kicking leg, planting, and firing. More often, O’Malley convinces opponents to reach for him, then he hops both feet a few inches to the side and backwards, creating a new angle for his counter cross/combination. This is especially deadly when the two athletes are opposite stances, a dynamic O’Malley frequently creates by switching to the opposite of his opponent.

A half-step closer, O’Malley’s boxing game is notable for his ability to both jab well and lead with the cross masterfully. His frequent shoulder pumps, low hands, and natural speed add up to a jab that can prove nearly invisible. Better yet, he’ll mix up his jab and feints. He can attack shoulder pump-jab, jab-shoulder pump-jab, or just a straight double jab off the bat depending on the distance — and he can do it all from both stances!

The lead cross is a great weapon for O’Malley, one of his best for scoring knockdowns. What makes O’Malley so dangerous with this weapon (aside from the feints) is that he can stick it straight or step in hard with more of an angle. Particularly while opposite stance, O’Malley will often just handfight then unfurl his cross in snappy, quick fashion. However, when the two are back to a same stance engagement, O’Malley will instead commit his weight and step forward with an overhand that scores at a different timing. O’Malley’s ability to jab well, throw quick crosses well, and step into hard overhands is what allowed him to find the holes in Petr Yan’s tight guard.

Smart shot selection, feints, and dangerous threats from both stances: that’s what makes O’Malley so nasty.

Vera is a vicious striker in his own right. Over the years, he’s developed into a fighter who can punish his opponent with heavy shots from every range, equally targeting the head, body and legs.

Over the years, Vera has largely adapted a pressure fighter style, seemingly in response to his earlier career defeats to John Lineker and Douglas Silva de Andrade. Something seemed to click in his mind after those losses: Vera cannot get backed into the cage and beaten up if he’s the one walking down his opponent down and beating them up! Add in the fact that Vera consistently targets his opponent’s body, and he’s an exhausting man to fight who commonly picks up steam as fights wear on.

Vera’s distance and body work begin with his kicks. Primarily a Southpaw, Vera actually does great work with both legs. The classic Southpaw left kick to the open side is naturally a big weapon for him. “Chito” kicks powerfully and with good form, meaning a minimal amount of setup (i.e. a quick feint or slap of the lead hand) is all that’s required to let it rip to the liver or skull.

That’s pretty standard stuff for a Southpaw, but Vera’s front kick/teep is more unique. Vera really likes to stab his right toes straight into the gut, either as a lead leg teep or more powerful rear leg stab from Orthodox. Often, Vera will double up on the strike, poking his foe in the belly twice to interrupt any would-be counter punches (GIF).

Vera builds off his teep well. He’ll march his knees, showing one teep then throwing the other after closing a step of distance. Or, he’ll step forward after the teep, closing range into the pocket with punches or crashing into the clinch (more on that in a moment).

The biggest technical improvements to Vera’s game have come in regards to his boxing. At this stage of his career, Vera fights as much from the Orthodox stance as he does in Southpaw, which opens up different offensive options. For example, Vera has really done great work with the jab and right calf kick combination, ripping up his opponent’s lead leg.

Vera’s left jab is a great punch. Since that his dominant hand, Vera’s jab carries real pop and has dropped more than one opponent. Vera will also hook off the jab, and he uses the punch to set up body shots well. Against an opponent covering up along the cage — which will happen at some point given Vera’s relentless pressure — Vera does excellent work in slapping a punch high before slipping over and ripping the liver with a left hook. From either stance, the cross to the mid-section is a big weapon for Vera as well.

Finally, Vera is spectacularly violent in the clinch. The Ecuadorian athlete does well in transitioning directly from punches to wrapping up control of his opponent’s head while they attempt to retreat, allowing him to get in a free shot or two. Attacking with both knees and elbows ruthlessly, Vera makes it difficult for his opponent to tie up all his potential weapons.

An important element of Vera’s clinch attack is just how well he angles his strikes. Knees to the body can be throwaway shots that kind of glance off or fight-finishers, and Vera accomplishes the ladder by really turning his hips and leading with the point of the knee. Against Davey Grant, Vera showed off a rare diversity in elbow strikes by angling up the middle and carving his opponent up (GIF).

Wrestling

Neither of these men frequently looks for takedowns. Between the two, however, Vera is more likely to look for takedowns and will work from the clinch. Often, these trip attempts come after long exchanges of elbows, knees, and pressure in the clinch. Suddenly, Vera will switch his focus to squeezing the body lock and tying up a leg. A simple enough technique on its own, but one made more effective by this mix of tactics.

A final note: Vera is absolutely nasty with punches (GIF) and elbows from top position. O’Malley, meanwhile, hasn’t scored a takedown since 2017.

Oddly enough, both are at least somewhat defensively vulnerable to takedowns as well. Cory Sandhagen controlled Vera with relative ease, using his excellent movement to walk Vera into takedown attempts. O’Malley was bullied along the fence on a number of takedown attempts by Petr Yan, but he did shut down Sterling’s attempts to wrestle via his footwork and distance management.

The wrestling match up is a real x-factor here.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

“Suga” doesn’t grapple much, but Vera is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt with eight submission wins, including three in the Octagon.

Vera has long been quite active from his back. He’s always throwing up his legs in pursuit of armbars and triangles, which is how he picked up his first UFC victory. Opposite Roman Salazar, Vera used the classic triangle setup of jamming an arm between his legs to isolate Salazar’s head and arm. Right away, Vera unleashed a torrent of elbows, which made it easier to secure the ideal angle and attack the arm.

When opponents try to wrestle, Vera is quick to turn to his jiu-jitsu as a means of takedown defense. He’s attacked with the guillotine and d’arce choke, but his kimura-turned-armbar victory over Brian Kelleher was particularly sweet.

As Kelleher attacked a single-leg takedown (and later high-crotch), Vera tied up his opponent’s arm in the figure four grip. Kelleher decided to complete the trip anyway into top position, but Vera immediately cranked on his shoulder and knocked him off-balance. Without Kelleher’s weight holding him in place, Vera was able to quickly rotate his hips and throw his legs into Kelleher’s face. Extending his hips right away, Vera forced the finish immediately (GIF).

Vera also has a pair of rear naked choke wins inside the Octagon, and his setup here is pretty simple: stun his opponent with strikes first! When “Chito” has an opponent hurt, he’s quite happy to jump the back and sink in a choke if his opponent turns away or takes a bad shot.

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Andrew Richardson, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt, is a professional fighter who trains at Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, California. In addition to learning alongside world-class talent, Andrew has scouted opponents and developed winning strategies for several of the sport’s most elite fighters.

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Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 299 fight card right here, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET (simulcast on ESPN at 8 p.m. ET), before the pay-per-view (PPV) main card start time at 10 p.m. ET (also on ESPN+).

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