Umar Nurmagomedov shares prediction for upcoming Sean O’Malley vs. Marlon Vera title fight at UFC 299

Umar Nurmagomedov is sharing his prediction for the upcoming Sean O’Malley vs. Marlon Vera title fight at UFC 299.

UFC 299 will take place on Saturday, March 9th at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida.

Headlining the event is a bantamweight title fight between current champion Sean O’Malley (17-1 MMA) and Marlon Vera (23-8 MMA).

‘Sugar’ has only 1 loss in his professional career and that loss came against his upcoming opponent ‘Chito’. The two previously met at UFC 252 in August of 2020 where it was Vera defeating O’Malley via TKO at 4:40 of round 1.

O’Malley is looking for revenge at UFC 299.

It was during the UFC Vegas 87 media day that Umar Nurmagomedov sat down with reporters and shared his prediction for who would come out the victor between O’Malley and Vera (h/t MMANews):

“I think Sean O’Malley is going to smash this guy. Their last fight, Chito won because O’Malley was injured. We don’t know what was going to happen in this fight if he’s not injured. Because until he was injured, O’Malley was smashing him.”

Umar Nurmagomedov, in his quest to become bantamweight champion himself, will be watching the O’Malley vs. Vera fight very closely.

But first, the undefeated Nurmagomedov (16-0 MMA) will be taking on Bekzat Almakhan (17-1 MMA) this coming Saturday, March 2nd in a bantamweight bout.

The 28-year-old Dagestan, a cousin to UFC legend Khabib Nurmagomedov, last fought and defeated Raoni Barcelos (18-5 MMA) by KO in January of 2023. Umar was scheduled to face Cory Sandhagen (17-4 MMA) in August of 2023 but had to withdraw due to a shoulder injury.

Almakhan, 26, has won 8 in a row coming into Saturday’s battle, his most recent victory coming against Yan Ferraz (15-6 MMA) in November of 2023.

Do you agree with Umar Nurmagomedov’s prediction for UFC 299?

Will you be watching Umar vs Bekzat this coming weekend?

Share your thoughts in the comment section PENN Nation!