Sean O’Malley vs Brandon Vera Prediction and Odds, UFC 252 Main Card
While it takes some fighters several years to become household names in the UFC, other fighters are able to burst onto the scene extremely quickly. Sean O’Malley is one of those fighters. Despite being just 25 years old, O’Malley has already become a superstar in the UFC and he will be looking for a title shot in the immediate future. He currently possesses an undefeated record through 12 fights and he is entering this fight off of some thrilling first-round knockouts against Eddie Wineland and Jose Alberto Quinonez so he will be looking to continue that early stoppage trend on Saturday. When discussing O’Malley, a lot of people forget to mention that he was unable to fight for two years due to a suspension so one could hypothetically argue that he could have been in a title fight or two had that suspension never occurred. However, that is now behind him and he is only focused on the future where a golden belt might find its way across his waist in the future.
The only question that O’Malley has yet to address in his career is how well he would fare against an elite wrestler since all of his previous fights were mostly decided in the standup. That is where his opponent, Marlon Vera, should provide an answer over the weekend. Vera has a 15-6 record in MMA and eight of his victories have come by way of submission while all six of his losses have come by decision so he has yet to be stopped in the octagon as of yet. Vera is entering this fight following a controversial split decision loss to Yadong Song back in May so he should be very motivated to get back on track with a high-profile victory in this fight. That loss was even more upsetting when one considers the fact that Vera was in the middle of a five-fight win streak prior to that loss so he might have a little bit of added motivation for this fight.
When it comes to breaking down this fight, one has to wonder which fight style will reign supreme as both fighters being a unique skillset to the table. While Vera is very good in the ground game, Song had a lot of success in the standup in his last fight which concerns me considering the fact that O’Malley is arguably the best striker in the division. I expect Vera to mix in some takedowns for this fight but I think that O’Malley has too much power and precision with his strikes to not walk away with the victory. Although this fight is only three rounds, I think that O’Malley will connect with a vicious right hand that will drop Vera en route to another knockout victory.
Winner: Sean O'Malley by Knockout
