‘UFC 299 Countdown’ video

With UFC 299 less than a week away, the countdown is on until Sean O’Malley makes his first defense of the UFC bantamweight title against Marlon “Chito” Vera.

Watch the UFC 298 Countdown video above.

O’Malley (17-1, 1 NC) faces Vera (23-8-1) in a long-awaited rematch on March 9 at the Kaseya Center in Miami in the main event of UFC 299. Vera previously defeated O’Malley via first-round TKO in August 2020 at UFC 252. That result remains the lone loss on O’Malley’s professional MMA record.

O’Malley, 29, captured the UFC bantamweight title in August 2023 with a second-round knockout of longtime champion Aljamain Sterling. That victory capped off a six-fight unbeaten streak that also saw “Sugar” capture a decision win over Petr Yan, plus knockouts of Raulian Paiva, Kris Moutinho, and Thomas Almeida.

Vera, 31, has won five of his past six bouts heading into his first UFC title opportunity. Included in that run are highlight-reel knockouts of Frankie Edgar and Dominick Cruz, as well as decisions over Rob Font and Pedro Munhoz.

UFC 298 Countdown previews O’Malley vs. Vera 2 as well as two other featured fights on Saturday’s card, Dustin Poirier vs. Benoit Saint Denis and Kevin Holland vs. Michael Page.