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For his first bantamweight title defense, Sean O'Malley went toe-to-toe against Marlon Vera in the headline bout of UFC 299. The event took place on March 9 at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida.
The clash was a rematch of their fight at UFC 252 in August 2020 where 'Chito' got his hand raised via second-round TKO.
Prior to their second meeting, O'Malley was riding a six-fight undefeated streak that included victories over Petr Yan, Aljamain Sterling and Thomas Almeida.
Meanwhile, Vera was coming off a unanimous decision win over MMA veteran Pedro Munhoz at UFC 292.
Check out the two fighters make their way into the arena for UFC 299 below:
O'Malley landed the majority of the strikes in the opening round as 'Chito' proceeded with caution.
The action picked up in the second round as both bantamweights started landing on each other. O'Malley scored with a brutal knee but Vera managed to survive the blow.
'Sugar' continued to outclass his opponent as the fight went into the later rounds.
The title fight lasted the entire 25-minute duration. In the end, O'Malley emerged victorious via unanimous decision. The three judges scored the bout 50-45, 50-45 and 50-44 in favor of the 29-year-old champion.
