Sean O’Malley To Chito Vera, ‘F*** You! I’m Gonna Knock You Out, Buddy!’

“F*** you [Chito]! I’m gonna knock you out, buddy!” 😲

Time does not heal all wounds … greater than 3 1/2 years after combating, Sean O’Malley nonetheless ain’t keen on Marlon Vera (and the sensation’s mutual), with the reigning champ telling TMZ Sports activities he will render Chito unconscious!

We talked to 29-year-old “Suga” simply days earlier than he heads to Miami for the primary occasion combat in opposition to his 31-year-old rival … about the whole lot from the impact of his solely loss (Vera injured O’Malley through the combat) to if he’ll chase double champ standing in opposition to Ilia Topuria.

On the August 2020 combat — which Sean misplaced by TKO late within the first spherical — O’Malley had this to say:

“I got a lot of hate for saying mentally I didn’t lose that fight. I didn’t feel like my skills were beat. It was a freak accident. Yeah, he threw the kid. Yeah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I’ve heard it all. Mentally undefeated, going in there with that mindset. Going in there with the mindset to kill this dude, and it’s as simple as that,” Suga instructed us.

We requested O’Malley, brevity of the combat apart, if he may take away something from the primary outing.

“Not really,” he added. “Like you said, it was such a short fight, there really wasn’t too much to take away from it. I was confident. I felt very confident in there. Even with the injury, my foot was shut off and I was still piecing him up. Dotting him up, chasing him down. I’m just very confident going into this fight.”

It is Sean’s first combat as defending champion … we requested what, if something, was distinctive this time round.

“Nothing’s been different. My second 5 round training champ. Obviously, that last fight didn’t go 5 rounds, it only went 2, 1 1/2. Nothing’s really been different other than Chito, big fight, rematch. Same s***, different day. I’ve been doing this for 13 years.”

Talking of his belt, Sean gained it with a masterful efficiency in opposition to Aljamain Sterling at TD Backyard in Boston at UFC 292 in August 2023 … in entrance of a decidedly pro-O’Malley crowd.

299 is not in Beantown … as an alternative, the March 9 occasion will happen in sunny Miami, a metropolis with a big Ecuadorian inhabitants. Chito was born in Chone, Ecuador.