Sean O'Malley takes revenge in a dominant manner for his only defeat in the professional tournament

Sean O'Malley would have fought Aljamain Sterling and Merab Dvalishvili back to back if he hadn't had a heated rival.

Sean O'Malley criticizes Merab Dvalishvili and discredits the quality of the “Black Belt Grappler”

The reigning UFC bantamweight champion has just one blemish on his professional record (18-1, 1 NC) and that was a TKO loss to Marlon “Chito” Vera at UFC 250 in August 2020. O'Malley fell after Vera kicked him in the peroneal nerve, causing the referee to stop the fight after ground-and-pound strikes.

Four years later, O'Malley faced his former opponent Vera again, but this time for the world title, when they faced off in the main event of UFC 299 in Miami last March. Vera, ranked No. 6 at the time, overtook the likes of Merab Dvalishvili and Cory Sandhagen for the title due to his illustrious past with O'Malley.

However, the rematch between O'Malley and Vera couldn't have been more different than their first fight.

It turned out that O'Malley's first title defense was all about striking, with the champion tearing Vera to shreds in every way imaginable for 25 minutes. O'Malley got stronger with each round as Vera took all kinds of hits, including a brutal knee strike he took in round 2.

Somehow Vera managed to stay on his feet and survive the blow. The Ecuadorian showed his incredible determination and toughness in battling the much faster and more polished striker O'Malley. Vera landed a decent body shot on O'Malley in the final round, but it was too late. The final bell rang and the scorecards showed all five rounds for O'Malley, plus a dominating 10-8 score for “Suga” in Round 2.

After a masterful performance in Miami, Sean O'Malley will now face No. 1 contender Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 306 (Noche UFC) on September 14. O'Malley is the main fighter and headliner of the Mexican Independence Day weekend program for the third year in a row at The Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Unlike his last fight against Vera, Sean O'Malley says judges will not be needed for his clash with Dvalishvili, as his fights usually end by decision.

“Left hand to the teeth,” said O'Malley when asked how the fight went on his YouTube channel. “I feel like I'm either just going to beat him brutally… I know I'm going to hurt him at some point. I'm going to hurt him at some point, but then it could be a brutal knockout.

“Just an absolute – no good weight loss, no good camp and he just sleeps badly, like [Li] Jingliang,” O'Malley said, referring to Carlos Prates' brutal KO of Li Jingliang at UFC 305. “Like one of those where it takes five or six punches and the last one just sends him to the mat, snoring and with his nose crooked.”

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