Sean O’Malley puts his bantamweight title on the line for the first time at UFC 299, and it’s the fight he wanted – so he better deliver. O’Malley headlines Saturday’s pay-per-view at Kaseya Center in Miami where he’ll rematch Marlon Vera, who owns a first-round TKO victory from 2020 over the champ. For that reason, O’Malley handpicked “Chito” as his first title defense rather than a rematch with Aljamain Sterling or against Merab Dvalishvili or Cory Sandhagen, all ranked higher than Vera, who was No. 6 in the official UFC rankings when the match was made. Given this rematch was his desire and given Vera’s standing in the division and given O’Malley’s desire to reach Conor McGregor stardom this year , has O’Malley set himself up for a must-win situation in his first title defense, or can he afford a loss here and be OK from the standpoint of star power?
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Video: Is UFC 299 a must-win for Sean O’Malley? – MMA Junkie