Sean O’Malley (18-1) avenges his lone loss to successfully defend the UFC Bantamweight Championship for the first time by way of unanimous decision (2x 50-45, 50-44) against Marlon “Chito” Vera (23-9-1) in the main event of UFC 299 at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida.

O’Malley was able to out strike the UFC veteran by staying on the outside and fighting behind his jab. Throughout the bout, he landed 186/344 strikes to Vera’s 90/226 and even managed to land a brutal knee that somehow didn’t finish Chito in the 2^nd round.

In their first fight on August 15^th of 2020, Marlon Vera was victorious by 1^st round TKO after O’Malley suffered a lower leg injury. Since then, O’Malley has been pushing for the rematch to prove that without the injury he would still be undefeated.

“Chito is as tough as it gets,” said Sean O’Malley. “That one feels good, getting that one back. I guess we can all agree that I’m undefeated still”.

After the bout, O’Malley called out newly crowned UFC Featherweight Champion, Ilia Topuria, but also welcomed a fight against top bantamweight contender, Merab Dvalishvili.

The co-main event saw Dustin Poirier (30-8) return to the octagon in usual fashion as he finished rising lightweight Benoit Saint-Denis (13-2) in the 2^nd round. After winning much of the 1^st round, Saint-Denis got overzealous and Poirier landed a signature right hook to turn the lights out.

With this victory, Poirier gets back on the path toward UFC gold. He lost his last bout to Justin Gaethje by knockout, which was a fight to decide who would face lightweight champion Islam Makhachev.

For Saint-Denis, this loss ends his six-fight winning streak, which have all come via TKO or submission.

 Elsewhere on the main card, Michael “Venom” Page (22-2) made a successful UFC debut outpacing Kevin Holland (25-11) to a unanimous victory. Jack Della Maddalena (17-2) earned the biggest win of his career by defeating Gilbert Burns (22-7) by 3rd round TKO. Lastly, Petr Yan (17-5) returned to his winning ways as he defeated elevating bantamweight, Song Yadong (21-8-1), via unanimous decision.

Prelims

Curtis Blaydes def. Jailton Almeida via 2^nd Round TKO

Maycee Braber def. Katlyn Cerminara via UD

Mateusz Gamrot def. Rafael Dos Anjos via UD

Kyler Phillips def. Pedro Munhoz vis UD

Philipe Lins def. Ion Cutelaba via UD

Michel Pereira def. Michal Oleksiejczuk via 1^st Round SUB

Robelis Despaigne def. Josh Parisian vis 1^st Round KO

Assu Almabayev def. CJ Vergara via UD

Joanne Wood def. Maryna Moroz via UD