When it comes to the history of the
Ultimate Fighting Championship’s bantamweight division, it
didn’t get any bigger than UFC
299.
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That’s according to UFC CEO Dana White, who began Saturday’s
post-fight press conference by praising Miami as a host city.
“The gate was $14.14 million. It was a sellout, 19,165 people. The
highest-grossing event ever at the arena,” White said. “We broke
our own record, and it is the fourth-highest grossing UFC event of
all-time. Miami is on fire. This place is unbelievable. What
they’ve done in this state and in this city in the last 10 years is
phenomenal.”
In the evening’s featured bout, Sean
O’Malley made his first successful bantamweight title defense
with a lopsided five-round verdict against Marlon Vera
at the Kaseya Center. About the only thing missing from the
performance for “Suga” was a finish of his Ecuadorean rival. It
wasn’t for a lack of trying, however. O’Malley bloodied and
battered his opponent, outlanding him by 141 significant strikes.
He appeared to have Vera reeling on a couple of occasions, but each
time “Chito” managed to remain in the fight.
“He put on a clinic, and I don’t know if anybody can finish ‘Chito’
Vera,” White said. “He’s got a chin like nothing I’ve ever seen.
Ate those two knees. Big shots all night. Everybody knows the power
that O’Malley has. He ate all those shots…. ‘Chito’ Vera is one of
the most durable fighters I’ve ever seen.”
While Vera wasn’t viewed as the most worthy No. 1 contender heading
into UFC 299, it was a fight requested by O’Malley due to his
previous loss to “Chito” in 2020. And O’Malley is already at a
point where he can call his own shots.
“Biggest bantamweight fight of all-time,” White said. “Based off
energy, excitement, gate and pay-per-view — it’s by far the biggest
fight ever in the bantamweight division.”
When asked if O’Malley could reach the heights achieved by Conor
McGregor, the biggest star in UFC history, White didn’t rule
out the possibility.
“He’s on his way,” White said. “He’s the biggest star ever in
bantamweight history. We can say that right now.”
O’Malley might not be able to call the shots for his next fight,
however. While the
MMA Lab standout has lobbied for a crack at newly-crowned
featherweight champ Ilia
Topuria, he currently has a ready-made No. 1 contender in his
own division: Merab
Dvalishvili.
“I don’t know about moving divisions,” White said. “You know how I
feel about that. Even Topuria was talking about not fighting
anybody in the division after just winning the title. That’s crazy
talk.”