Marlon Vera elbowing Sean O’Malley (image via UFC / YouTube)

By Kelsey Mowatt

Recently, it was announced that Sean O’Malley has gotten his wish – a rematch with Marlon “Chito” Vera. But, Henry Cejudo’s confident Vera will spoil O’Malley’s quest to avenge his only defeat to date.

After O’Malley stopped Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292 this past August, the new bantamweight champ immediately called for a rematch with Vera. The latter faced O’Malley in August 2020, and recorded a first-round, TKO win.

More recently, Cejudo weighed in on the rematch via his YouTube channel. According to the former champ-champ, Vera (21-8) will end O’Malley’s (17-1, 1 NC) reign if he sticks to his game plan (quotes via MMA Fighting.com).

“I still stick to what I said before,” Cejudo said. “‘Chito’ Vera beats him just based on endurance. There’s another problematic thing that Sean is not accustomed to and that’s taller guys. It’s not like ‘Chito’s’ a giant either but he’s about 5-foot-8, 5-foot-9, while Sean O’Malley is 5-foot-11. When you start getting people at the same height and they fought before, one of them already has seen him literally break. You can take him there again. If ‘Chito’ Vera can really up his defense and be able to just keep your hands up, there’s nothing that he can do to your legs. The only thing that he can really do, ‘Chito,’ is right here, your face or your body.”

In their first bout, O’Malley’s movement was badly compromised by a leg kick from Vera, and ultimately, that led to the fight being finished via a ground-and-pound assault. O’Malley has repeatedly argued that Vera got lucky in the fight. Since that loss, “Sugar” has gone 5- with 1 no-contest.

“A guy like Sean O’Malley hasn’t gone through the trenches,” Cejudo added. “He hasn’t gone through the who’s who. Yeah, he’s got a controversial win, which still, I don’t believe he beat [Petr] Yan then he’s got one that he happened to throw a right hand and he caught Aljamain Sterling.

“Was it an early stoppage? Yeah, I’m not here to complain. What I’m saying is he hasn’t been through the trenches against really tough guys and I do believe ‘Chito,’ if he can just do the same gameplan as he did his last fight and take out his legs, it’ll be the exact same outcome.”

Vera, meanwhile, has gone 5-2 since he defeated O’Malley. Most recently, the contender recorded a decision win over Pedro Munhoz in August.

No date or venue has been announced yet for UFC 299, which O’Malley – Vera 2 is expected to headline.