Aljamain Sterling believes “there’s a very good chance” Marlon Vera defeats Sean O’Malley for a second time

Aljamain Sterling believes ‘there’s a very good chance’ Marlon Vera defeats Sean O’Malley.

Sean O’Malley (17-1 MMA) is expected to rematch with Marlon Vera (23-8 MMA) in his first title defence.

It was Vera who handed O’Malley his first and only career loss back in August of 2020 at UFC 252.

Sterling (23-4 MMA), who lost his bantamweight title to O’Malley via way of TKO (see that here) this past August at UFC 292 knows a thing or two about fighting the 28-year-old.

The former champion is sharing that he believes Vera will get the job done should he and O’Malley meet in the Octagon one more time.

Sterling, speaking on his YouTube channel shared his thoughts on ‘Chito’ vs ‘Suga’:

“There is a good chance that ‘Chito’ can actually beat Sean O’Malley. And I know people are saying this is an easy win, but this is how deep the division is. I’m saying right now I’m predicting an upset. I’m predicting an upset that ‘Chito’ is going to beat Sean again.”

(via Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC)

Continuing, Aljamain Sterling spoke of the first fight between Vera and O’Malley:

“If you watch the first fight with them, Sean does the same thing. He throws one-off shots. ‘Chito’ was just walking him down and eventually he threw the one kick – OK, let’s erase the kick. We saw what happened when he hit the ground. The leg has nothing to do with him defending punches and elbows from his back. I would imagine that the fanbase would agree with that, right? But on the feet, people are saying he’s too slow, he’s too hittable, he starts too slow. O’Malley is not a knockout artist. He hasn’t knocked out Petr Yan. They’re going to say, ‘Oh, he knocked you out.’ Guys, he did not. Come on, let’s be real. I ran into the shot the same way I did with Marlon Moraes.”

Concluding, ‘Funk Master’ doubled down on the fact that he believes ‘Chito’ will upset O’Malley (h/t MMAJunkie):

“I don’t run into the shot, he hits me with that shot, I’m still standing. … But you look at the ‘Chito’ fight, he’s not one-punching ‘Chito’ unless ‘Chito’ was to run forward the same way I did and get sniped. It’s not happening. ‘Chito’ stays in the same spot, and he’s going to sit there, be patient, walk him down, hands up, he’s going to throw those long kicks, he’s very durable. I think we’ve seen that even in the Sandhagen fight. He’s got a great gas tank. Sean gets tired. I’m not being a hater, just calling it what it is. There’s a very good chance that ‘Chito’ is going to get this upset.”

What are you thoughts on Sterlings’ prediction that ‘Chito’ could in fact defeat O’Malley a second time and claim the belt?

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