By Anthony Caruso III | Publisher
UFC Bantamweight Champion Sean O’Malley has retained his strap. He defeated Marlon Vera in the main event of UFC 299 from Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida.
This was the third event held in Miami. However, it was the first UFC card at the facility in nearly one year, as UFC 287 was hosted in Miami in April 2023.
These two fighters previously fought at UFC 252 in August 2020. Vera won the meeting with a first round knockout.
However, following the match in the post-fight interview, O’Malley, who has a chance to become the promotion’s latest headliner, said that he’s undefeated now despite the one loss on his resume.
O’Malley won these main event by unanimous decision. The judges had a card of 50-45, 50-45, and 50-44.
The colorful O’Malley was the lone champion on the card. With the win, the 29-year-old O’Malley improved to 18-1 in his MMA career.
The decision was his fifth decision win of his career. It was his first decision win in 18 months as he won a split decision over Petr Yan at UFC 280 in October 2022 in Abu Dhabi. This was awarded the Fight of the Night bonus.
Since his loss to Vera, O’Malley has won six straight bots. He also fought against Pedro Munhoz, which was ruled a no-contest at UFC 276 on July 2nd, 2022, due to an accidental eye poke that caused Munhoz not able to continue.
The 31-year-old Vera fell to 23-9 in his career. All nine of his losses have come via a decision.
He has now dropped his last two fights, as he was also defeated by Cory Sandhagen by a split decision in March 2023. Following his loss to Sandhagen, he defeated Munhoz by a unanimous decision.
