Aljamain Sterling explains why he’s picking Sean O’Malley to defeat Marlon Vera at UFC 299: “He didn’t really have a great camp”

By Susan Cox - March 4, 2024

Aljamain Sterling is explaining why he’s picking Sean O’Malley to defeat Marlon Vera at UFC 299.

Aljamain Sterling

UFC 299 takes place this coming Saturday, March 9th at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida.

Headlining the event is a bantamweight title fight between Sean O’Malley (17-1 MMA) and Marlon Vera (21-8 MMA).

O’Malley at 29, has only lost once in the Octagon and that was to Marlon Vera back in August of 2020 at UFC 252. It was ‘Chito’ who TKO’d ‘Suga’ at 4:40 of round 1. O’Malley will be looking to revenge that loss this coming weekend.

Vera, 31, has 5 wins in his last 6 bouts in the cage. Most recently Vera defeated Pedro Muhhoz (20-8 MMA) in August of last year at UFC 292.

Former champion Aljamain Sterling is weighing in on the upcoming fight, posting a video to his YouTube channel, the 34-year-old said:

“The only thing I’m concerned about is I heard, I’m hearing through the grapevine that he didn’t really have a great camp, from a lot of guys that trained with Chito. I don’t know how true that is. So with that said, I’m leaning towards O’Malley to get it done.”

Continuing, ‘Funk Master’ detailed how the match-up could go:

“I do wonder if that’s going to be the difference, in the later rounds. Will O’Malley start to taper off and that’s where Chito gets going with the goods? Cuz early on, O’Malley’s dangerous. The knees, the footwork, the lateral footwork. Try catching a chicken that’s moving all over the place. That’s O’Malley. Want to take him down? Good luck. Even if he doesn’t snipe you, you have to be cognizant of that, that’s what he’s looking for.”

Concluding Aljamain Sterling said:

“If he doesn’t get tired, he beats a lot of guys. But it’s how long can he do that in a 25-minute fight?”

Do you agree with Sterling that O’Malley is dangerous and may in fact come out ahead defeating Vera on Saturday night?

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