UFC bantamweight king Sean O’Malley is looking to continue his rise to superstardom on Sunday when he defends his belt against Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera in the UFC 299 main event.
And for O’Malley, who won the title from Aljamain Sterling last year after a second-round knockout, the plan is already double-champ status as the American eyes Ilia Topuria.
That, of course, could potentially mean delaying Australian former featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski’s rematch with the Spaniard later this year.
UFC 299: O’MALLEY VS VERA 2 | SUN 10 MAR | Order Now with Main Event on Kayo Sports. Main Event on Kayo Sports and Foxtel is the new exclusive home of UFC Pay-Per-View events!
‘My leg will be on his f***ing chin’ | 24:16
“If Volk gets that next title shot, I’m not mad at it,” O’Malley told foxsports.com.au this week.
“He’s definitely deserving. But while I’m not stuck on that fight, I’ve still planted a little seed. It’s a good time to be the Suga Show. But what happens?
“You’re guess is as good as mine, brother. Topuria could very well could be next. I don’t know.
“But what I do know is that there’s nothing if I don’t get past Chito and I’m planning on our fight being a 25-minute war. Chito is as tough as it gets. He’s never been dropped, never been subbed, never been knocked out. So I’m readying for war.”
O’Malley’s first bantamweight title defence comes against the only man to beat him so far in his MMA career, having suffered a first-round TKO loss to Vera back in 2020.
This time around though O’Malley’s stocks are on the rise and Volkanovski is tipping the ‘Suga Show’ to flip the script and hand Vera his first-ever knockout defeat.
Why Volk deserves instant rematch | 02:08
“On paper and what I’ve seen, who do I lean towards? I lean towards Sean O’Malley, pretty comfortably I’d say that,” Volkanovski said on his YouTube channel.
“They’ve already fought, so you’ve got to give that respect where ‘Chito’ has already beat him. Do I feel he can do the same things to Sean? I think that’s going to be hard. I know he’s already beat Sean, but I think Sean’s striking is high level.
“I think it’s pretty underrated. I think people know it’s good, but I don’t think people understand how good it is. His shot selections, his variety in strikes, angles, distance management, his eye. All of that is top-notch. Very, very high level. He’s still young, he’s still in his prime. He’s probably still finding his prime. It just depends now that he’s champion, is he still putting the hard yards in?”
“… I think it’s going to be a finish for Sean O’Malley. It could be a submission, but I think it’s going to be a TKO because even if he hurts him and takes him to the ground, I can’t see him looking for a submission.”
Suga plans to put Chito’s ‘lights out’ | 08:20
Elsewhere, the co-main event at UFC 299 sees Dustin Poirier look to vault himself back in title contention as he takes on rising French star Benoit Saint Denis.
Poirier, who is coming off a knockout defeat to Justin Gaethje, is determined to prove he is not on the way out of the division at 35 years old but has the odds stacked against him.
Saint Denis has quickly proven himself a lightweight machine, boasting a 100 per cent finish rate with seven coming in the first round.
Poirier understands the risk he is taking on Sunday, telling reporters earlier in the week that a dominant victory could put him one fight away from a title shot.
“I think a lot of that depends on how I win,” Poirier said.
“If it’s a big finish or something like that, I believe I’m a win away from a title shot with a great performance. But it rights the ship. It gets me back in the win column. We take it from there.
“I try not to look too far past these fights because Saturday isn’t here yet. We’ve got to go out there and do the damn thing. Sunday, we reassess and really see where we’re at and what’s next.”
Poirer on his body, age & training less | 04:10
Earlier on Sunday, all eyes will be on Australia’s next UFC superstar Jack Della Maddalena as he takes on Gilbert Burns in a bid to push closer to a title shot against welterweight king Leon Edwards.
Della Maddalena boasts 16 straight wins, including six in the UFC, but faces a stern test in Miami against No. 5 ranked contender Burns.
“As soon as I got offered the fight with Gilbert I was in,” Della Maddalena told foxsports.com.au earlier this week.
“It’s a challenging fight, and he’s a legend of the sport. I actually wish I had this fight earlier.
“I’ve been wanting to fight Gilbert for a long time. And I’m excited for it.”
If Della Maddalena is able to get past Burns on Sunday he is targeting a blockbuster bout against undefeated phenom Shavkat Rakhmonov in the rumoured Australian pay-per-view event being planned for later in 2024.
HOW TO WATCH
You can order the UFC 299 card NOW with Main Event on Kayo Sports. Main Event on Kayo Sports and Foxtel is the new exclusive home of UFC Pay-Per-View events!
START TIME
The early preliminary action gets underway at 10am AEDT with the preliminary fights starting at 12pm and the main event kicking off at 2pm.
Della Maddalena is the second fight on the main card so you can expect him to make his octagon walk at around 2.30pm depending on how long the earlier bout between Petr Yan and Son Yadong lasts.
Look for O’Malley and Vera to get underway in the main event at approximately 4pm, again depending on whether there are early finishes in the previous fights.
UFC 299 FIGHT CARD + RESULTS
Main card
Sean O’Malley (c) vs Marlon Vera — bantamweight
Dustin Poirier vs Benoit Saint Denis — lightweight
Kevin Holland vs Michael Page — welterweight
Gilbert Burns vs Jack Della Maddalena — welterweight
Petr Yan vs Song Yadong — bantamweight
Prelims
Curtis Blaydes vs Jailton Almeida — heavyweight
Katlyn Cerminara vs Maycee Barber — flyweight
Mateusz Gamrot vs Rafael Dos Anjos — lightweight
Pedro Munhoz vs Kyler Phillips — bantamweight
Early prelims
Ion Cutelaba vs Philipe Lins — light heavyweight
Michel Pereira vs Michal Oleksiejczuk — middleweight
Robelis Despaigne vs Josh Parisian — heavyweight
CJ Vergara vs Asu Almabayev — flyweight
Joanne Wood vs Maryna Moroz — flyweight
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