Aljamain Sterling has heard things about Marlon Vera that could prove rather concerning. ‘Chito’ is going to go up against his former rival Sean O’Malley for the bantamweight championship at UFC 299. However, is Vera going to be prepared for ‘Suga’?
Sterling is the former champion, the one who lost his title to O’Malley at UFC 292, making him the champ, who is now about to make his first title defense. Vera has already defeated O’Malley once but now we have the former champ wondering if he can do it again.
Aljamain Sterling puts Vera’s camp under question
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Aljamain Sterling recently gave his opinion on what the bantamweight title fight could look like for Marlon Vera. According to Sterling, Vera’s camp wasn’t entirely good for the fighter. In fact, he may not even have had enough people to work with:
“The only thing I’m concerned about is that I heard . . . he didn’t really have a great camp or a lot of guys to train with, with ‘Chito’ yeah” Said Sterling. “So, I don’t know how true that is, so with that said, I’m leaning towards O’Malley to get it done. I’m gonna say, I don’t think he finished him, (wins) by decision. Maybe split decision, I’m saying split decision.”
Looks like the fight already has the former champ’s verdict on it. Marlon Vera is a highly accomplished fighter and the one loss in O’Malley’s career. Certainly, now that he’s matured even more and become a champ, ‘Suga’ is looking to redeem himself.
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Will this even come through? Going into the fight O’Malley has acknowledged Vera’s prowess. However, in spite of their skills, ‘Aljo’ isn’t yet quite sold on how the fight will go. The former champion isn’t expecting it to excite him to the greatest of extents.
Sterling isn’t exactly bringing popcorn to the fight
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In the same interview clip, Aljamain Sterling was asked how excited he was for the fight overall. The former champion had to rate the fight between 10 being the most exciting and 1 being the “Francis Ngannou versus Derrick Lewis.”
Also Read: Sean O’Malley Confesses Bizarre Umar Nurmagomedov Interaction – “We’re Gonna Fight Someday”
And for Sterling, it was the latter. He even compared the fight to be similar to when Rose Namajunas went up against Carla Esparza. “2” he rated it as the small video on Instagram ends. Clearly, he’s not expecting the fight to bring out the best from the cage.
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Meanwhile, O’Malley and his preparations seem ongoing and hard since he’s already attempting to defeat the only person he ever lost to. Will his aim be sharp? Will he retain the belt? Only time will tell.