SUMMARY
- Sean O'Malley suffered his first MMA loss at the hands of Marlon Vera.
- A very debatable loss, it was one that O'Malley doesn't count on his record.
UFC 299 is almost upon us and what a night of action we have in store. With some epic fights lined up one after another, the event is quite possibly one of the best of the year. Notably, the event is centered around Sean O’Malley and Marlon Vera who will lock horns for the second time.
For those unaware, Sean O’Malley has had only one blemish on his otherwise impeccable record. The only loss in Sean’s MMA career so far has come at the hands of Marlon Vera, however, the loss itself is very heavily debated. As such, the bantamweight champ still considers himself ‘unbeaten’ and claims that he didn’t really lose the fight.
The rematch is going down this Saturday! 💥@SugaSeanMMA vs @ChitoVeraUFC 2
[ LIVE on @ESPNPlus PPV | 10pmET/7pmPT | #UFC299 ] pic.twitter.com/0WPTM1IsYq
— UFC (@ufc) March 4, 2024
With that said, he will need to prove the same when he takes on ‘Chito’ Vera again, this time in an entirely different setting. Since their initial fight, both fighters have had different trajectories. However, in the end, the two have found their way and will now face each other again, this time with the undisputed bantamweight title on the line.
Tim Welch reveals his fault in Sean O’Malley’s loss to Marlon Vera
Ahead of UFC 299, Sean O’Malley’s coach, Tim Welch has done a deeper dive and analysis of the first Marlon Vera fight. Taking place at UFC 252, both fighters were considered lower-level fighters at the time. While O’Malley had two fights to his name by that point, Vera had already been in the promotion for six years.
During the fight, a kick from Vera struck O’Malley’s peroneal nerve, which was further made worse by the tight wraps around the fighter’s ankles. As Coach Welch also points out, “I gotta take a lot of the blame on this. One of the UFC people wrapped his ankles, and a couple of times, Sugar usually never complains about anything, he said ‘this ankle wrap is too tight’.
As such, Welch revealed that he had them cut the wraps a little bit around the sides. However, this was very last minute and it resulted in them getting very little time to actually test out the wraps. Further, he adds, “I just feel like that was a lot my fault, a lot my fault for not saying, ‘Hey, let’s wait, we have to redo these wraps. But, lesson learned, every single fight we’ve had, we’ve learned a little something”.
According to Tim, he should have had the wraps taken off and redone as they played a crucial part in the loss to Vera. After Chito tagged Sean’s ankle, Welch believes that the tight wraps prevented blood from getting where it needed to, resulting in a dead leg, ultimately costing O’Malley the fight.
What happened in the first Sean O’Malley vs. Marlon Vera fight
For the most part, Sean O’Malley was already said to be recovering from a brutal, potentially career-ending surgery. Having suffered a similar injury against Andre Soukhamthath, O’Malley practically fought on one leg to get over the finish line. However, they did manage to get the win at that time, but as Tim Welch feared, the issue was not yet resolved completely.
Whilst the fight between O’Malley and Vera was quite back and forth, many wondered as to what would have been the outcome had Sean’s leg not been compromised. Up until the moment his leg started giving away, O’Malley was fully in the fight and some could argue, was even winning the contest. Having carefully analyzed Vera ahead of the fight, neither Sean nor Tim Welch were surprised by anything he had to offer.
Thus, as Welch suggests, they are more than ready to make a case by leaving no doubt in the rematch. With no scope of an injury or anything similar, the duo believes they have what it takes to beat Vera. Aside from the rivalry with Sean O’Malley, many would argue that Chito is undeserving of a title shot. Having been thoroughly dominated by Cory Sandhagen, a win against the champ now would certainly make for one hell of a story.
