Chito Vera is confident he will defeat Sean O’Malley in their potential rematch later this year.
In August 2020, ‘Chito’ temporarily stopped O’Malley’s rise to superstardom by defeating him with a first-round knockout at UFC 252. Since then, a rematch between the top-tier bantamweights has felt inevitable.
Before fighting at UFC 292, ‘Chito’ made it clear he wants to fight O’Malley again if they both won on Saturday night. The possibility of their rematch increased significantly when ‘Sugar’ became the UFC bantamweight champion by defeating Aljamain Sterling, and Vera secured a unanimous decision win against Pedro Munhoz.
During his UFC 292 post-fight press conference, ‘Chito’ was asked about potentially fighting O’Malley again. He responded by saying this before ‘Sugar’ became the 135-pound king:
“If he [O’Malley] wins, we f*cking go, I beat his a** again.”
Later in the press conference, ‘Chito’ was asked about O’Malley again and had this to say:
“I think he’s in love with me.”
Chito Vera’s win at UFC 292 was much needed after losing against Cory Sandhagen in March. Meanwhile, Sean O’Malley is on top of the world after silencing the doubters with back-to-back wins against Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling.
Chito Vera tells Sean O’Malley and the UFC to send him a contract for title fight
Shortly after getting his hand raised at UFC 292, O’Malley called out Chito Vera for his first title defense inside the T-Mobile Arena in December. Considering Vera has been advocating for the rematch, there’s no doubt he would accept O’Malley’s challenge. The Ecuadorian bantamweight contender had this to say in a Twitter post on Saturday night:
“Send me contact ok”
Send me contact ok
— C H🖕🏽T O🇪🇨V E R A (@chitoveraUFC) August 20, 2023
Vera followed up by posting a picture of himself celebrating his UFC 292 win with the caption saying:
“Fighting for a world tittle very soon.”
Fighting for a world tittle very soon. pic.twitter.com/NWakx6CUkl
— C H🖕🏽T O🇪🇨V E R A (@chitoveraUFC) August 20, 2023
If ‘Chito’ gets the next bantamweight title shot, several top contenders will likely need another win before attempting to become a world champion. The fighters primarily affected would be Merab Dvalishvili, who is ranked number one, and Cory Sandhagen, who is recovering from surgery after tearing his tricep.
Therefore, Vera’s history with the bantamweight champion makes him arguably the best option for O’Malley’s first title defense.
