The bantamweight division will hold the first UFC title fight rematch of 2024.
Sean O’Malley’s crowning moment against Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292 this past August was one of the highlights of the year. The reigning bantamweight champion fulfilled his personally long-expected dream after launching to superstardom through season one of Dana White’s Contender Series in July 2017. Along the way, there was only one setback of the “Sugar Show,” which came opposite Ecuador’s Marlon “Chito” Vera in August 2020.
Marlon Vera TKO’d the future champion in round one and went on to remain one of the division’s most violent finishers, but small hiccups prevented him from reaching his own title shot. The biggest of those came in early 2023 when he lost to Cory Sandhagen via a unanimous decision. “Chito,” however, rebounded to get back in the win column the same night that O’Malley became champion as he earned a unanimous decision over Pedro Munhoz.
The victory was enough to earn the Ecuadorian a title shot despite the vast talent pool of contenders at 135 pounds, which even surprised Vera’s rival Sean O’Malley.
“I’m honestly surprised that it’s happening in a sense,” Sean O’Malley told Helen Yee. “I didn’t think that he would get to the title shot, and did he really deserve it after his performance over Pedro? I don’t know, but I thought, you know what? It’s time that I take him out. So, here we are and it’s very exciting.”
Success hasn’t been hard to find for Marlon Vera (23-8-1) since his Sean O’Malley triumph. The aforementioned mishap against Sandhagen was only one of two losses in his seven bouts since. Ultimately, the loss, injuries to other contenders, and the timing couldn’t have been better for Sean O’Malley to pass Vera by in the Sterling title fight sweepstakes.
Bad blood is certainly present between the two in this upcoming matchup as it was previously. It’s not anywhere near a boil though. Both men have remained composed and confident when speaking about or around each other. From the champion’s perspective, he’s coming to prove a point and get redemption for his only loss in 19 fights.
That alone is enough for the rematch to be worth making as his first title defense, believes Sean O’Malley.
“I think it’s the biggest fight in the division,” Sean O’Malley said. “I think it’s an important fight from what happened the first time. I claimed that I’m undefeated and he claims that he beat me, so now March 9, we get to settle it to see who was right.
“There’s a possibility it does [go the distance]. He’s never been submitted, never been knocked out. He’s very, very durable. I just truly, truly believe that I’m on another level and going to bring a level of performance that the UFC has never even seen. I think I’m gonna hit a level that people will be shocked at, and I’m gonna put on a masterful, beautiful performance.
“We’ve seen ‘Aljo’ get knocked out, but we’ve just never seen ‘Chito’ get finished. That would be extra special,” he concluded.