Chito Vera is already the fourth in the ‘ranking’ of the UFC bantamweight, Sean O’Malley is the first | Other Sports | Sports

American Sean O’Malley, winner of Saturday’s fight against Russian Petr Yan in the main event of UFC 280 in Abu Dhabi, moved up to first place in the ranking of the bantamweight of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), surpassing even the Ecuadorian Marlon Chito Vera, who in August had one of the most convincing results among 135-pound contenders by knocking out former champion Dominick Cruz.

O’Malley moved Yan to second in the rankings, while Vera sent Tyler Jeffrey (TJ) Dillashaw to fifth, who himself was punished in the co-main event at UFC 280 by reigning champion Aljamain Sterling.

Petr Yan-Sean O’Malley winner will be the next UFC bantamweight title challenger, according to Dana White

After defeating former bantamweight champion Petr Yan, Sean O’Malley moves up a total of ten spots to rank number one. It’s not official yet, but it’s probably the next contender for the belt that Aljamain Sterling also defended in Abu Dhabi last Saturday against TJ Dillashaw, who dropped three places.

The new order in the ‘top’ 5 of the bantamweight was imminent after the crash of O’Malley.

With these changes, Sterling is open to all possibilities for next year.

Vera spoke on Twitter after the comments about the Sterling fight and the potential duels facing a new defense: “I’m going to put the whole bag of chitos in your mouth.”

In this sense, Sterling mentioned the Ecuadorian on the social network, and he reiterated his intention to challenge him through another tweet. “Let’s do it anyway.”

Chito Vera reminds Petr Yan that they had the opportunity to face each other in August

Marlon Chito Vera is coming from being one of the strongest contenders in the division. The athlete from Chone (Manabí) has won 4 of the last 5 fights in the UFC, losing only to José Aldowho is company history after announcing his retirement from mixed martial arts.

Everything points to that Chito must pass one more hurdle before fighting for the belt, and it could be either at the end of this year or at the beginning of 2023. Cory Sandhagen was emerging as the rival to overcome, however, the sixth of the ranking he would have denied getting into the octagon with the Ecuadorian on November 5.

Chito Vera analyzes fighting Sandhagen in December and waiting until the first semester of 2023 for the offer to go for the title

Important voices like that of the Mexican journalist from ESPN Sports Carlos Contreras Legaspi point out that a duel between Marlon Vera and the champion Aljamain Sterling “makes more sense than ever” and is justified because the South American comes “more solid among the applicants.”

“Chito’s knockout of Dominick Cruz seems the most convincing and the champion is open to all possibilities,” says Contreras in a note from ESPN Sports posted on Saturday.

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