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Sean O'Malley's ascension to a matchup against the No.1-ranked contender Petr Yan at UFC 280, has a few questionable bouts along the way.
A glaring first-round knockout loss to Marlon Vera and a no-contest against Pedro Munhoz due to an eye poke by O'Malley make up his only ranked matchups so far.
According to former UFC middleweight Chael Sonnen, Vera has every right to be riled up about O'Malley's upcoming fight.
Sonnen spoke on his YouTube channel and said:
"Chito Vera should be the number one contender, but Sean O'Malley's the one in the number one contender's match. Oh, by the way, Sean O'Malley, prior to the reversal [from] the Sugar State Athletic Commission had a loss to Chito, and it was his only loss. Chito has the right to be annoyed. Chito has the right that Sean appealed it to the Sugar State Athletic Commission, that in and of itself has a degree of unsportsmanship, like I could not fault Chito in the least."
Sonnen jokingly made a reference to O'Malley's tweet, where he self-adjudicated that his no-contest against Pedro Munhoz was a win on his record, claiming to be the "Suga State Athletic Commission."
O'Malley tweeted:
"BREAKING NEWS!!! SUGA STATE ATHLETIC COMMISSION OFFICIALLY RULES PEDRO VS SUGA A FAT FUCKIN DUB FOR SUGA"
Check out the tweet below:
Chael Sonnen explains why Marlon Vera should root for Sean O'Malley against Petr Yan
Although Marlon Vera may not have a top-ranked opponent to face next, Chael Sonnen believes the Sean O'Malley vs. Petr Yan bout can work out in his favor. He explained why Vera should cheer on 'Sugar' against 'No Mercy' at UFC 280.
Sonnen revealed a friend's thoughts on the same on his YouTube channel:
"Chito should be picking 'Sugar' Sean. He should be hoping 'Sugar' Sean wins, and my friend's reasoning was, if he does and then Sean goes to fight for a title and wins the title, boom! Here's Vera, waiting right here. I'm the guy that beat you, here's Vera's title shot."
Sonnen asserted that O'Malley will fight for the title if he manages to defeat the former bantamweight champion. As such, 'Chito' is poised to demand a title shot himself, having beaten 'Sugar' already.
Regardless, Marlon Vera will keenly be following his divisional matchups at UFC 280 of which there are two. Aljamain Sterling will hope to defend his belt for a second time, this time against former champion T.J. Dillashaw in the co-main event.
Check out Chael Sonnen's full comments on YouTube:
