Marlon Vera has given his thoughts on Sean O’Malley’s chances against Petr Yan in their grudge match at UFC 280.

Next Saturday night in Abu Dhabi, Sean O’Malley will get the chance to register the biggest win of his mixed martial arts career thus far when he meets former UFC bantamweight champion Petr Yan at UFC 280.

The match-up came as a shock to many who believed the promotion wouldn’t book such a showdown, but in equal measure, there’s also a lot of excitement in the air as we wait to find out where O’Malley sits in the bantamweight hierarchy.

Marlon Vera, who fought and defeated O’Malley back in summer 2020, recently explained how he sees the bout going down.

“I feel for real, that anybody can win. That anything can happen. You can break your feet in the first round, you can get cracked.” Vera said.

“You also have to be realistic. The only two hard, high-level guys he fought, he got knocked the f*** out in one, and the second one he poked the guy in the eyes. And honestly, in the Munhoz fight before the eye poke happened, it is not like he was doing something crazy. He was not kicking his ass. They were literally going slap for a slap with low kicks. Really, no one was making any damage. No one was doing anything.”

Quotes via MMA News

Vera went on to relay the fact that, according to him, Petr Yan previously refused a fight against ‘Chito’.

It goes without saying, but the winner of Yan/O’Malley will be in pole position for the next title shot.

Who is the favourite heading into Petr Yan vs Sean O’Malley? What do you think should be next for Marlon Vera? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments, BJPENN Nation!