Sean O'Malley’s longtime coach, Tim Welch, hasn’t seen anything from Marlon Vera that he’s concerned about since their first meeting in August 2020.
Vera (23-8) handed O’Malley (17-1) his lone career loss in their first encounter, which “Sugar” refuses to acknowledge to date, blaming it on a damaged peroneal nerve due to a “fluke” leg kick.
O’Malley is gearing up to defend his bantamweight strap in a rematch against “Chito” in the main event at UFC 299 on March 9 in Miami. Welch believes Vera won’t be very confident going into the rematch as he hasn’t seen a ton of improvement in the Ecuadorian since the initial encounter.
“I don’t think [he’s improved] a ton. I don’t think his confidence is going to be high,” Welch said in an appearance on The MMA Hour. “And the way he showed up against Cory Sandhagen, he got smoked by Cory Sandhagen. He barely got past a little, short — no diss, but — Pedro Munhoz, who’s not very fast and big, he’s a little bit older. So I don’t think his confidence is super high.”
“But Chito’s dangerous. He is really, really good at getting beat up and then winning, which is a dangerous thing. He’s very durable; he trains hard, he’s got a good coach, and he’s dangerous. Last time we fought him, we [underestimated] him. We thought he was just slow and clunky, and then that happened. So, we’re not underestimating him this time.”
While O’Malley hasn’t lost a fight since his defeat against Vera, the reigning bantamweight champion cemented his place amongst the elites with a split decision win over former champ Petr Yan in October 2022, which also earned him a title shot. “Sugar” then went on to score a stunning upset knockout over Aljamain Sterling to be crowned the new champ in August of last year.
Meanwhile, Vera has gone 5-2 since his win over O’Malley and is coming off a decision win over Munhoz, which saw him bounce back from a split-decision loss against Sandhagen. Not only was Welch not impressed with Vera’s recent performances, he also believes O’Malley’s style will give “Chito” flashbacks of the Sandhagen loss.
“That was not that long ago, so we watched film on that. Watched film on Cory Sandhagen, because Cory standing there, obviously he switches stances, moves around a lot, and how did [Vera] go about that fight? What did he do? It seems like he just got confused and he got broke mentally. So, if that Chito shows up on March 9, it’s going to be really bad for him."
“I just think that Cory Sandhagen bout is just going to be in his mind. And when he feels Sean’s movement and Sean’s speed and his reaction times, I feel like that’s going to come back into play into his mind. Like, f*ck, he just couldn’t get started. He felt like he just couldn’t reach him. He just couldn’t get to him. He was too slow. And I feel like that’s probably going to come back, especially in the big cage.”
While Welch is preparing O’Malley for a five-rounder, deep inside he doesn’t see the fight going the distance.
“I believe it’s going to be a viral knockout. But like I said, I’m preparing Sean for a five-round war. I’m bringing the toughest people I could find in to spar him, going tons of rounds, trying to break him, trying to break his legs, kicking his legs, and we’re preparing him for a five-[round] war, because Chito is really good at taking shots. He’s very durable... So, we’re preparing him for five rounds, but I do believe in my heart that he’s going to be probably face-planted at the end of the fight.”
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