Sean O’Malley suffered his first ever loss in MMA back in 2020 after he was brutally beaten by his longtime rival, Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera.
On June 7, Sean O’Malley will once again fight for the UFC bantamweight title when he rematches Merab Dvalishvili in the UFC 316 main event in Newark, New Jersey.
Ahead of their much anticipated rematch, ‘The Machine’ Dvalishvili has claimed that he will knock ‘Suga’ out, which has drawn a reaction from O’Malley.
Initially when the rematch was announced by UFC boss Dana White, fans accused O’Malley of benefiting from ‘Dana White privilege’, as they did when he received his first title shot after a controversial win over Petr Yan.
His loss to the Georgian back at UFC 306 last September was only his second ever professional MMA loss, with his first coming against his longtime rival, Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera.
O’Malley had his head bounced off the canvas by Chito Vera
After scoring an emphatic knockout to earn an opportunity on Dana White’s Contender Series, O’Malley then produced one of the most viral moments in the sport’s history when he scored a blockbuster knockout in front of Snoop Dogg.
The sensational striker’s UFC career got off to a difficult start as after a debut win in the promotion, he had to overcome adversity in his second outing, which left him lying on the ground in agony being interviewed by Joe Rogan.
However, it was in 2020 at UFC 252 when ‘Suga’ was given the biggest opportunity of his career at that point as he was matched up with longtime bantamweight contender, ‘Chito’ Vera.
The Ecuadorian was widely regarded as O’Malley’s toughest test at that point due to his gritty fight style and ability to never back down.
Early in the fight, both bantamweights traded leg kicks with O’Malley looking comfortable in the opening exchanges.
Midway through the round, O’Malley stumbled to the ground under no pressure at all, concerning those in attendance in the UFC Apex.
Vera immediately knew O’Malley was compromised and continued throwing oblique kicks to the knee of O’Malley.
Again, as ‘Suga’ tried to move forward and land a jab, his front foot gave way underneath him and he once again fell to the ground.
Initially, the commentary team on the desk, which included Joe Rogan and Dominick Cruz, were confused by O’Malley’s injury.
After a brief punching exchange in the pocket with ‘Chito’, O’Malley went to step back out of range and fell to his back. Immediately, Vera pounced on the grounded O’Malley and began to rain down heavy ground-and-pound.
The Ecuadorian then landed an utterly brutal elbow straight to the face of O’Malley before landing another one which had the commentary team screaming. Herb Dean stepped in and saved ‘Suga’ from anymore damage, resulting in his first loss in MMA.
O’Malley got revenge over Vera over four years later
Potentially a positive for O’Malley heading into his UFC 316 rematch against Dvalishvili is that the last time he had a rematch was against Vera last year when they fought for the bantamweight title.
After knocking out Aljamain Sterling to become the champion, O’Malley asked the UFC for a rematch against Vera to finally get revenge for his first ever loss.
And when the two met at UFC 299, ‘Suga’ made sure to put their first fight behind him when he utterly dominated Vera over five rounds to retain his title.