The rivalry between UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley and top-10 contender Marlon “Tito” Vera continues to heat up on social media.
After Sean O’Malley won the 135-pound title by knocking out Aljamain Sterling in the second round at UFC 292, he immediately called for a rematch with Vera. Vera was the only fighter to defeat O’Malley inside the Octagon. In their previous bout in August 2020, Vera won by first-round TKO after O’Malley injured his foot early in the fight.
O’Malley has been eager to avenge that loss ever since.
Now that he is the bantamweight champion, O’Malley may have the leverage to make the long-awaited rematch happen, even though Vera is currently recovering from a split decision loss to Cory Sandhagen in March.
After O’Malley won the title, it appeared that a bout against Vera would take place at UFC 296 in December. However, there has been no further information about the fight since then.
That is, until now.
On social media, Vera sent a message to O’Malley, saying, “This guy talks about boxing and wants to protect McGregor’s belt.”
O’Malley responded, “Lol, I’m not trying to box. I want to fight you, you idiot.”
There has been no official announcement about O’Malley’s next fight or opponent.
There are better contenders for O’Malley than ‘Tito’ Vera
A rematch with Marlon Vera may be an appealing storyline for the UFC, but there are other fighters in the stacked bantamweight division who are more deserving, such as No. 2-ranked contender Merab Dvalishvili. Dvalishvili is currently on a nine-fight winning streak, with his latest victory being a unanimous decision win over former champion Petr Yan.
If O’Malley doesn’t choose to immediately rematch Aljamain Sterling, a fight with Dvalishvili seems inevitable. However, O’Malley appears to be more interested in taking an easier route. This is not a knock on Vera, but it will be hard to convince anyone that “Tito” will pose as much of a challenge as “Funk Master” Aljamain Sterling or Merab Dvalishvili.
