‘Sugar’ Sean O’Malley Reacts to UFC Rival Marlon Vera’s Recent Loss

Sean O’Malley gave his take on Marlon Vera, the man who last beat “Sugar,” and his loss to Cory Sandhagen this past Saturday during UFC on ESPN 43.

Sandhagen and “Chito,” two top-ranked bantamweights, battled for five rounds in the night’s main event. “Sandman” put on a masterclass performance against Vera by utilizing his movement, diverse striking and wrestling to neutralize the heavy-handed Ecuadorian. Sandhagen left the arena with a decision victory while halting Vera’s four-fight win streak.

O’Malley, who currently holds the No. 1 spot in the 135-pound division, knows Vera well. They were paired up for an August 2020 scrap and Chito handed the star his first-ever professional MMA defeat. With both men in the top five of bantamweight, a rematch at some juncture appears all but inevitable.

Well, O’Malley reacted to Vera’s defeat during the most recent episode of “Timbo Sugar Show.” O’Malley’s trainer and podcast co-host Tim Welch floated the idea that Vera’s performance against Sandhagen was negatively affected due to competing in front of a sold-out crowd in San Antonio, Texas. But, O’Malley wasn’t buying it.

“I disagree,” O’Malley said. “I think Cory just outclassed him. I do think the big cage — I mean, it’s like if you’re playing a basketball game and you’re like, ‘Well, let’s just play half-court.’ That’s pretty much the difference between the small cage and the big cage. It’s 40 percent bigger, so it’s like a different playing ground you’re playing with. I think it would have favored Chito a lot more in the smaller cage.

“I don’t think anything was wrong with ‘Chito.’ I think Cory’s that f****** good, and that style beats Chito. Chito’s not very fast. He’s f****** super good, super durable, well-rounded everywhere. Cory was focused for 25 minutes, did what he needed to do, wrestled more than I thought he would.”

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O’Malley Questioned Vera’s Use of Skills While He Was on His Back & His Urgency

Chito is notoriously a slow starter, and much was made of that during the broadcast by the UFC commentators, and post-fight by fans and pundits alike. O’Malley said that if Chito was okay with allowing Sandhagen to win the opening rounds, then that was “not a f****** good game plan.”

“You know what surprised me a lot was the first two rounds when Cory took Chito down,” O’Malley said. “It didn’t look like he was trying to get his guard back, didn’t look like he was trying to wrist control and get up. I was super surprised at the lack of skills — I don’t think he’s lacking those skills, but he wasn’t using them. He just laid on his back. I don’t think Cory’s some Merab [Dvalishvili] who gets on top and he’s just got this crazy pressure, and you can’t get the f*** up. Maybe, I haven’t felt that.

“But, Chito looked like he was just giving up that position. I don’t know if was like, ‘I’m going to try and get Cory tired.’ Which is not a f****** good game plan. Maybe it worked against a couple guys, but that can’t be your game plan: ‘I’m going to go in there and lose these two rounds, and then try and win it in the last three.'”

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Chito Called Out Former Bantamweight King Petr Yan

Vera was interviewed by color commentator Michael Bisping inside the Octagon after Sandhagen was awarded the victory, and the bantamweight made no excuses for his performance.

“I was as ready as I can get,” he said. “I was feeling good during training, and I just couldn’t get it started. This one is on me, no excuses.”

A day after the event concluded, Vera took to Twitter to challenge former 135-pound champion Petr Yan, writing: “Yan it’s about time…”

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