Supposedly, two fighters actually facing one another in the cage should be the end of any beef between them. What more cathartic way to work through any issues than punching a foe square in the face? Sometimes, however, a fist fight is just the beginning. And for Marlon Vera, his 2020 win over Sean O’Malley has only seemed to build more bad blood between the two men—largely due to O’Malley’s unwillingness to accept the idea that he actually lost in any way other than on paper.
Their sustained mutual dislike came to a head once again over the holiday season, when O’Malley posted a video of a recent trip he took to his local Walmart—where the UFC fighter handed out cash to unsuspecting shoppers in a show of Christmas charity. Vera apparently caught wind of the gesture and posted his distaste. Not for the act of giving, but for filming and posting it.
U don’t need a camera guy to help people. you piece of shit
— C H T O V E R A (@chitoveraUFC) December 29, 2021
For his part, O’Malley responded to ‘Chito’’s rebuke on a recent episode of his podcast (transcript via Middle Easy).
“Yeah, giving out money — some people didn’t like it,” O’Malley said. “Like this one guy tweeted something like, ‘you give money out without…you don’t need a camera guy.” What was it? Woah, first of all, it’s my sister. She’s a girl, don’t be sexist. Girls can record videos too. No respect.
“‘You don’t need a camera guy to help people you piece of sh*t.’ I didn’t know that to be honest. I was actually taken back by that. I thought if I did it without recording it, the people I gave it to wouldn’t care. I thought the people I gave $100 to had to have a camera there for them to care. So that was my fault and I actually learned something today. I gave a homeless guy $20 and I didn’t record it and he didn’t care. Maybe he’s on to something, maybe I’m on to something. I don’t know, I thought it was pretty fun. I enjoyed it, I had a good feeling in my heart giving money to those people… I still felt like a good person. Even if I’m a piece of sh*t, I still felt like a good person.”
‘Sugar’ is fresh off a first round KO of Raulian Paiva at UFC 269 this past December. That victory makes three straight for the MMA Lab talent, stretching back to his 2020 loss to Vera.
The Ecuadorian fighter put together a 2-1 record in the Octagon following that win over O’Malley—with two straight victories over Davey Grant and Frankie Edgar in 2021, following a loss to Jose Aldo in December of 2020. No word yet on just when either man will be returning to the Octagon in the new year, as they both look to continue working their way up the bantamweight rankings.
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