O'Malley retains UFC bantamweight belt

Sean O'Malley emphatically defended his bantamweight belt late Saturday night, unanimously outpointing Marlon “Chito” Vera in UFC 299 in Miami.

In a fight that he controlled from the opening round, O'Malley (18-1) outclassed Vera with his quickness, precision striking and footwork.

The champion threw 344 punches, landing more than 50% of them. He was the more active fighter throughout, hurting Vera (23-9-1) with shots to the body, knees to the face, and countering nearly every one of Vera's connections with one of his own.

It was O'Malley's first defense of his bantamweight title after stopping former champion Aljamain Sterling 51 seconds into the second round at UFC 292 last August.

Vera handed O'Malley the only defeat of his career nearly four years ago by landing a leg kick that caused O'Malley's right foot to go numb in the first round of UFC 252.

He added that he wants to fight featherweight champion Ilia Topuria next.

Immediately after the five-round fight, O'Malley sat down on the canvas after Vera hurt him late with a shot to the body — one that could have been much more significant if it was landed earlier in the match.

“I tried to stay toe to toe with him and catch him,” said Vera, the Ecuadorian fighter who received a significant amount of cheers from the fans at Kaseya Center. “At the end of the fifth round I landed a nice body that hurt him, but I ran out of time.”

Former interim lightweight champion Dustin Poirier knocked out upand-comer Benoit Saint Denis with a right hand in the second round of their lightweight match. Saint Denis had hurt Poirier with punches in the early round before the veteran dropped him with a right hook at 2:52 in the second round. The victory moved Poirier into a tie for the fourth-most wins in UFC history with 22.