(L-R) Sean O'Malley knees Marlon Vera in the UFC bantamweight championship fight during the UFC 299
MIAMI, FLORIDA - MARCH 09: (L-R) Sean O'Malley knees Marlon Vera of Ecuador in the UFC bantamweight championship fight during the UFC 299 event at Kaseya Center on March 09, 2024 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

So, UFC 299 has come to a close and what night packed with action it was. From a high-level clash between Petr Yan and Son Yadong, Jack Della Maddalena’s electrifying knockout against Gilbert Burns, Michael “Venom” Page styling all over the octagon in his debut and Dustin Porier showing the people why he’s been a top lightweight for years with his knockout against Benoît Saint Denis. In the main event, the bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley defended his title against Marlon Vera

UFC Bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley put on a striking masterclass against Marlon “Chito” Vera at UFC 299. He spectacularly dominated most of the fight as Chito Vera had no answer for any of Suga Sean’s strikes, the fight went the full five rounds with Sean ultimately winning a unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-44).

Now with such a dominant performance from the Champ, it begs the question:

Did Chito Vera Really Deserve a Title Shot?

(R-L) Sean O'Malley punches Marlon Vera in the UFC bantamweight championship fight during the UFC 299
MIAMI, FLORIDA - MARCH 09: (R-L) Sean O'Malley punches Marlon Vera of Ecuador in the UFC bantamweight championship fight during the UFC 299 event at Kaseya Center on March 09, 2024 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

To answer this question let’s go back to August 15th 2020, UFC 252, Sean O’Malley an undefeated prospect at the time was pitted against Marlon Vera, Sean was doing well until Chito hit him with a leg kick in round 1 that hit the cranial nerve on his right leg, making it completely unresponsive. Chito was able to knock him down get the TKO victory shortly after. People have always questioned whether Chito’s victory over Sean was a fluke or a legitimate win

 Now, fast-forward to 2024, both of them have grown and learned a lot as fighters, especially Sean who has become the UFC Bantamweight Champion winning all of his fights after his loss to Chito. After winning against Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292 to capture the belt, he focused on avenging his only professional loss against Chito Vera

He was given this chance at UFC 299 when it was announced that Sean would have to defend his title against Chito Vera. Many people disagreed with that decision as Chito didn’t have a convincing reason for being given a title shot based solely on a win against Pedro Munhoz. With absolute monsters in the division like Merab, Aljamain, and Cory awaiting a title shot, Chito seemed like an undeserving challenger

Sean’s lopsided win against Chito at UFC 299 truly demonstrated this. Sean controlled the fight for five full rounds throwing beautiful strikes and managing distance very effectively for which Chito had no answer.

Tell us in the comments below whether you think Chito really deserved the title fight or was it a bad match up?