Henry Cejudo warns that ‘history could repeat itself’ at UFC 299 if Marlon Vera can implement the right game plan, foresees a late TKO stoppage.
The former king of the bantamweight division broke down the UFC 299 main event between Sean O’Malley and Marlon Vera on his YouTube channel, suggesting that there’s a good chance that ‘history could repeat itself’ on Saturday night.
Cejudo predicts that if ‘Chito’ can walk down Sean O’Malley, fake up high with the hands, and keep kicking the peroneal nerve as he did in their first fight, fans could be in for a late stoppage and a new champion crowned in Miami.
Henry Cejudo on Marlon Vera’s gameplan for UFC 299
As the former bantamweight champion with one of the finest analytical minds in the game, ‘Triple C’ knows a thing or two about game planning and fight management.
Whilst the Ecuadorian was able to emerge victorious against O’Malley in their first meeting, partially thanks to a leg injury that ‘Suga’ sustained early in the fight, Vera is currently a sizable underdog on DraftKings Sportsbook heading into the PPV.
Yet instead of trying to adapt to O’Malley’s latest set of skills, Cejudo thinks Vera should stick to his original game plan and aim for the same peroneal nerve that helped him earn the win last time:
“If Marlon Vera is able to just walk him down and kick the leg, it doesn’t have to be fancy because Sean’s stance is so wide [that] a kick will get there. He’s going to be hard to hit with the hands, [so] fake smoke the hands and go off the bottom.”
O’Malley told ESPN MMA’s Brett Okamoto in 2022 that he was surprised Vera didn’t utilize his kicks more in his fights after their first contest: “He threw a kick, that he hasn’t thrown again. He hasn’t kicked anyone’s nerve again, I don’t know why he hasn’t been doing that.”
Well, Vera could very well be saving the technique for UFC 299, with Cejudo noting that “I think history could repeat itself because anybody and everybody who has fought Sean, nobody has gone to his kicks.”
If Vera can maintain the pace and distance that he needs to get on the inside of O’Malley’s notable reach advantage, Cejudo thinks that he can “create the same scenario, the same situation where he just stalks him, takes a little bit of a hit…and just chop that damn lead leg off.”
“If Vera can stick to that damn gameplan…maybe even sacrifice round one and two, but really pick it up in three, four and eventually, I could see Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera literally stopping him within that fifth round.”
Sean O’Malley takes on Marlon Vera in his first bantamweight title defense in the main event of UFC 299 in Miami.