[autotag]Sean O’Malley[/autotag] is now an established champion after logging his first bantamweight title defense Saturday against Marlon Vera in the UFC 299 main event.
O’Malley (18-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC) utterly dominated Vera (21-9-1 MMA, 15-8 UFC) over the course of five rounds to earn a lopsided unanimous decision at Kaseya Center in Miami, and now he wants to move up to featherweight to challenge Ilia Topuria, who has no title defenses on his own resume yet.
Will the UFC grant O’Malley his wish, or does he need to stay at 135 pounds and grant Merab Dvalishvili his long-overdue title shot?
Watch the video above for thoughts and analysis on O’Malley’s future after his UFC 299 title defense.
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 299.