Will Sean O’Malley take on Marlon Vera next?
Fresh off his impressive knockout win over Eddie Wineland at UFC 250, the rising prospect is looking to take on a name fighter in his next bout, which Marlon Vera certainly fits the bill. The bantamweight has stepped into the octagon against ranked talents such as John Lineker and Song Yadong throughout his career thus far.
O’Malley expressed interest in making his return in August, and made it clear that he would like to fight Vera in his next bout (Transcript courtesy of MMA Junkie):
“If I fight ‘Chito’ who’s not ranked, they kicked him off the rankings, it’s like I still have options,” O’Malley said. “He’s good, he’s a black belt in jiu-jitsu. I think he beat Song Yadong, so I think he’s on a six-fight winning streak with five finishes. He finishes people in the later rounds. He’s tough, he’s got good cardio, so yeah it’s up to the UFC.
“You know how it is, you can have two guys say they want to fight and they don’t fight. That’s just how it is. So that’s an option in August, so that’s what’s probably next but I don’t know if he has any injuries or anything.”
It didn’t take long for Vera to respond, showing interest in the possible match-up and promising to put an end to the cocky up-and-comer:
As of this writing, there’s no word on whether UFC officials are looking to set up the potential bout between the two bantamweights. O’Malley is currently in the midst of a 12-fight winning streak, whereas Vera suffered a loss to Song Yadong, which snapped a strong five-fight winning streak.