UFC bantamweight Sean O’Malley has criticized Marlon Vera’s performance in his victory over Davey Grant at UFC Vegas 29.
In a gruelling rematch last weekend, “Chito” exacted revenge over Grant after the Englishman walked away with a decision win in their first meeting five years ago.
The second instalment of their rivalry was everything we’d expected it to be. In a three-round war inside the UFC Apex, Vera left Grant bloodied and bruised from multiple elbow strikes and some vicious ground and pound. The Ecuadorian had appeared close to securing a submission victory, but Grant rallied to take the bout to the 15-minute distance.
Having lost to Brazilian legend Jose Aldo last December, it was important for Vera to rebound on his first walk to the Octagon this year. He did exactly that.
But one man wasn’t impressed with Vera’s performance during Saturday’s Fight of the Night. Sean O’Malley, who Vera defeated last year, was left questioning how good the performance really was.
In a video posted to his YouTube channel, “Suga” expressed his dismay at his former opponent’s latest appearance in the Octagon.
“That is Chito’s style, just gets beat up for a little bit, and then people get tired of beating him up, and then he comes on in the later rounds. But, yeah, I took an edible so I was really high but I was trying to fast forward like is this in slow motion? He looked so slow. Who does he have next? He called out Dominick, will he get that, no. Dom already said he’s trying to fight up.”
Vera became the first man in MMA to defeat the charismatic O’Malley when they faced off last August. “Chito” attacked the 26-year-old’s lead leg and, after a grimace-worthy case of foot drop, finished O’Malley with some hard shots on the ground.
Despite O’Malley claiming that he could comfortably avenge the loss if the pair run it back, Vera recently claimed that O’Malley had rejected a rematch.
Having returned to the win column with a dominant performance against Thomas Almeida at UFC 260, O’Malley will look to continue his momentum when he faces Louis Smolka at UFC 264 next month.
Vera, meanwhile, will look to enter the cage with a top name next after his bounce back victory last weekend.
What did you make of Vera’s UFC Vegas 29 performance?
