Israel Adesanya defeated Alex Pereira at UFC 287 in Miami, reclaiming the middleweight title in their MMA rematch. Now, Sean O’Malley is looking to replicate Adesanya’s success in his upcoming rematch against Marlon Vera at UFC 299, also taking place in Miami. This will be O’Malley’s first defense of the bantamweight title.
O’Malley suffered his only career loss to Vera at UFC 252 in 2020. Vera compromised O’Malley’s leg with a calf kick, hitting his peroneal nerve, which caused O’Malley to temporarily lose feeling in his foot and left him vulnerable to strikes due to impaired movement. Since then, O’Malley has dismissed his defeat on several occasions, asserting that it would not have gone that way had it not been for the nature of his injury.
In anticipation of UFC 299, O’Malley was interviewed by Shakiel Mahjouri. Referencing Adesanya’s knockout victory in Miami, O’Malley stated, “So I’m just gonna have to go out there and do the same thing. Knock ‘Chito’ out in the rematch, and rewrite history. It will be beautiful.”
There is much speculation surrounding the pay-per-view headliner for UFC 300, set to take place in April. Some believe the winner of Sean Strickland vs. Dricus du Plessis at UFC 297 could face Adesanya in the main event. However, Michael Bisping suggests that a light heavyweight title bout between Alex Pereira and Adesanya may take center stage for UFC 300. This comes after Pereira’s TKO win over Jiri Prochazka at UFC 295 to become the new 205 pound champion, followed by a callout for a trilogy bout with Adesanya.
