Rising UFC bantamweight “Suga” Sean O’Malley not only sees himself competing for the 135-pound belt next year, but he has a plan to get there. A rematch against Marlon Vera, O’Malley told The MMA Hour, is his next step toward UFC gold.
“Two more finishes — early 2023, I’m fighting for the belt, whoever has it. I think after this fight, I go out there, I’ve got to finish Pedro — and I go out there, let’s say I finish Pedro, I get a top-5 guy, whoever that is. Depending on if ‘Chito’ gets a fight booked, I know that’s a fight that I want,” O’Malley said Monday on The MMA Hour.
O’Malley Promises Title Run in 2023
I don’t know if he’s going to get a fight booked. I’m assuming. He seemed like he wants to fight again. If he goes out there and wins, that could be another fight, maybe December time frame.
We’ll see. I was kind of hoping Rob [Font] would win that fight, because I wanted to fight Rob, but he didn’t obviously. So yeah, I think Pedro, depending on if ‘Chito’ goes out there and beats someone in the top five, he probably can get a title shot. If he doesn’t end up getting a fight, I would, like, finish Pedro and get that fight, and we’ll see.”
Marlon Vera recently demolished Rob Font at UFC Vegas 53, sending “Chito” into title contention. That was enough for Sean O’Malley to consider a rematch, which ought to set up a fight with champ Aljamain Sterling – or whoever has the belt next year.
“In the past I said he’s got to earn a rematch, and I think he’s done that. He went out there, lost to Jose Aldo, went out there and lost to Frankie Edgar and then beat him with, you know, he basically lost to Frankie. He lost 13 minutes of a fight.
No, he did, he finished Frankie. With two more minutes in that fight, he loses that. But I will, I’ll say it, he knocked out Frankie. Then he went out there and he looked really good against Rob, he looked impressive against Rob, he looked like he definitely improved.
I don’t know how he didn’t finish him — he dropped him about 13 times. So he’s definitely improved and he’s earned that rematch. People hate when I say that, but it’s true — he earned it.” Do you want to see O’Malley vs Vera 2? Let us know in the comments.
