Henry Cejudo sees Sean O'Malley coming up short against Marlon “Chito” Vera once again in their title fight at UFC 299.
O'Malley (17-1) recently secured the bantamweight title at UFC 292 with an impressive Round 2 technical knockout against Aljamain Sterling. Soon after becoming champion, “Sugar” declared that he intended to face Vera (23-8) in his first title defense and avenge his only professional mixed martial arts loss.
Back in 2020, Vera defeated a surging O'Malley via Round 1 TKO. The Ecuador native came out with a leg-kick-heavy game plan, eventually dinging O'Malley's peroneal nerve and finishing him by ground-and-pound.
According to Cejudo, their second meeting won’t turn out to be any different.
“Chito Vera beats him just based on endurance,” Cejudo said on his YouTube channel. “There’s another problematic thing that Sean is not accustomed to, is taller guys. It’s not like Chito’s a giant either, but he’s about (5-foot-8), 5-foot-9, while Sean O’Malley is 5-foot-11.
“When you start getting people at the same height and they've fought before, one of them already has seen him literally break. You can take him there again. If Chito Vera can really up his defense and be able to just keep your hands up, there’s nothing that he can do to your legs. The only thing that he can really do, Chito, is right here -- your face or your body.”
Interestingly, despite O’Malley's champion status, “Triple C” thinks that the Montana native hasn’t faced “the who’s who” and the toughest fighters in the division.
“A guy like Sean O’Malley hasn’t gone through the trenches,” Cejudo said. “Hasn’t really gone through the who’s who. Yeah, he got a controversial win, which still, I don’t believe he beat Yan and then he’s got one that he happened to throw a right hand and he caught Aljamain Sterling. What I’m saying is he hasn’t been through the trenches against really tough guys, and I do believe that ‘Chito,’ if he can just do the same game plan as he did his last fight and take out his legs, it’ll be the exact same outcome.”
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