Undefeated bantamweight prospect Umar Nurmagomedov believes Sean O'Malley will "smash" Marlon Vera in the UFC 299 main event.
Nurmagomedov explained that O'Malley's ankle injury in the first fight was the only reason Vera won.
"I think Sean O'Malley is gonna smash this guy [Vera]," Nurmagomedov told reporters at a UFC media day. "Because in their last fight 'Chito' win because of O'Malley --- he injured.
"Until he was injured, O'Malley was smashing him."
O'Malley's ankle injury is the main narrative entering UFC 299. Vera targeted the calf early with chopping kicks and managed to hit the perennial nerve, effectively numbing the foot and causing "Sugar" to roll his ankle. Before he knew it, O'Malley couldn't step or cut angles in the cage and ended up on his backside where Vera rained down elbows for the finish.
O'Malley suffered the same injury in his winning effort against Andre Soukhamthath at UFC 222 in 2018.
"It was a super weird feeling," O'Malley told The MMA Hour. "I couldn’t feel my whole foot when I put it on the ground. Every time I put pressure on it, it wasn’t there — it was super weird. It sucked.
"[It would be] better if it was broken."
O'Malley's immediate reaction to the "Chito" loss was to discredit his Ecuadorian rival:
"He won. It sucks for me," O'Malley remarked on the Timbo Sugar Show. "Because I lost to someone who I look at as not very good. I look at him, and I’m like, ‘He’s not that good.’ And I f****** lost to him. That’s what’s the most frustrating thing. Losing to someone I’m better than."
"Sugar" will get an opportunity to avenge the loss when he rematches Vera at UFC 299 on March 10.
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