- Robert Whittaker thinks Sean O’Malley has a great chance of stopping Marlon Vera with his superb striking
- “The Reaper” explained how “Chito” could turn things around and beat “Sugar”
Robert Whittaker expects to see Sean O’Malley utilize his strengths in his upcoming title defense against Marlon Vera at UFC 299.
O’Malley could hit the chin good
Speaking on MMArcade podcast, “The Reaper” shared his thoughts on the highly-anticipated rematch between O’Malley and Vera. Whittaker is undecided yet as to how the fight would play out but he is favoring “Sugar” over “Chito” because of the champ’s knack for hitting his opponents’ chin.
“I am so uncertain because I do believe this is going to be a fight that is dictated by who turns up,” Whittaker said. “It is so hard to put a pin on. I will say though, as a betting man, if I had to favor someone, I’m going to favor Sean O’Malley… because he has an uncanny way to find chins. He has impeccable timing and accuracy with those shots that have the power to switch people off. He’s so hard to get a read on because of his movement, his stance switching, and his spacing is near perfect.”
Vera could steal it from O’Malley
At the same time, Whittaker also acknowledges Vera’s “aggressiveness.” For the former middleweight champion, O’Malley could be in trouble if he wouldn’t be able to rock or dominate Vera with his striking.
“But as we saw in their first fight, if you’re a dog and you make it a dog fight and you make it aggressive and violent, Vera is there for that. Vera is very much there for that type of fight,” Whittaker remarked.
“If Sean doesn’t have as much success in finding the chin, or doing the damage and earning the respect he needs to keep that space where he can kind of play in the range that he wants, he not going to have a lot of fun because Vera, you can see it in Vera’s eyes. You can see it in the way he fights, he’s a dog, dude. He’s going to get in there and he wants violence,” he assessed.
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Vera would try and dethrone O’Malley in his very first title defense as the bantamweight champion. In their first showdown at UFC 252, “Chito” stopped “Sugar” via TKO in the opening round.
The grudge match between the two bitter rivals will take place this weekend at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida.
Watch Whittaker’s full video below:
