Sean O’Malley defeats Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera via unanimous decision to retain bantamweight belt at UFC 299

Sean O’Malley defeated Marlon “Chito” Vera via unanimous decision to retain the bantamweight belt at UFC 299 on Saturday in Miami. It was his first career title defense.

The judges scored the fight as 50-45, 50-45, 50-44 in favor of O’Malley. All three judges gave O’Malley every round on the scorecards.

It was a masterclass of precision and footwork from O’Malley. He dominated the fight from the start. O’Malley’s superior length and speed were on full display, picking Vera apart from range for all five rounds. O’Malley landed a seemingly endless amount of straight rights to the face and added good bodywork, too. He also nearly ended the bout early with a vicious knee to Vera’s head in the second.

After the fight, O’Malley said that he wants to fight current UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria next in Spain.

“Dana, get me a jet to Spain,” O’Malley said. “I’m coming for Ilia Topuria.”

O’Malley improved to 18-1-1 and avenged the only loss of his career to Vera in August 2020. The first result was controversial as O’Malley injured his leg early in the fight. After falling to the mat in the second round, Vera pounced for ground-and-pound, ending it early.

Vera (23-9-1) has lost two of his last three fights.

In the co-main event, veteran lightweight Dustin Poirier defeated Benoît Saint Denis via knockout in the second round. The fan favorite (30-8) has now split his last four fights with wins over Saint Denis and Michael Chandler and losses to Justin Gaethje and Charles Oliveira.

“I was getting beat up for a little bit,” Poirier said after the fight. “I got him in the end.”

The win moves Poirier into a tie for fourth in all-time UFC wins (22). Saint Denis, of France, is now 13-2-1. It was his first loss since October 2021.

(Photo: Paul Rutherford / Getty Images)