Former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling claims Marlon Vera “didn’t really have a great camp” ahead of his UFC 299 title fight.
Marlon Vera takes on Sean O’Malley for the bantamweight world title on March 9 from the Kaseya Center in Miami, the very same title that Sterling lost to ‘Suga’ last year.
Speaking on the FunkMasterMMA YouTube channel, Sterling claimed “I’m hearing through the grapevine that he [Vera] didn’t really have a great camp” and that he predicts O’Malley will earn himself a hard-fought split-decision win at UFC 299.
Aljamain Sterling on Sean O’Malley vs Marlon Vera 2 at UFC 299
Sterling lost his bantamweight throne in 2023 when O’Malley delivered a devastating KO in the second round, and ‘Funk Master’ is picking the flashy American to get the job done on Saturday evening.
Breaking down the UFC 299 main card on his YouTube channel, Sterling admitted that O’Malley is “100%” the more skilled fighter out of the two, even if Vera has advantages in terms of durability and cardio.
“I think O’Malley is the more skilled fighter, 100%, but I just think the intangibles like someone’s durability, their heart, and the cardio aspect that people are overlooking – I feel like Chito has that.”
The former champ then revealed that he had been hearing rather concerning rumors surrounding the Vera training camp, and that he is leaning towards O’Malley to earn a “boring” decision win.
“The only thing that I’m concerned about is that I’m hearing through the grapevine that he didn’t really have a great camp, from a lot of the guys that train with Chito.”
“I don’t know how true that is, so with that said I’m leaning towards O’Malley to get it done. I’m going to say, I don’t think he finishes him, so by decision, maybe split decision [for] O’Malley.”
Sterling, who is set to face Calvin Kattar at UFC 300 in April in his featherweight debut, predicts that the upcoming bantamweight title fight will end in a boring split decision:
“I’m saying this is Francis Ngannou and Derrick Lewis or Rose Namajunas [and] Carla Esparza 2…I think if you’re Chito, you fight this mother******* boring bro, you can’t fight him aggressive and try to be exciting because he’s too good at what he does.”
Sean O’Malley vs Marlon Vera 2 is the main event of UFC 299, which takes place on March 9 from Miami.