Henry Cejudo rips Marlon Vera's performance vs. Sean O'Malley, open to fighting him next
Henry Cejudo lambasted Marlon Vera for his performance against Sean O'Malley.
Vera (21-9-1 MMA, 15-8 UFC) was battered in a unanimous decision loss to bantamweight champion O’Malley Saturday in the UFC 299 main event at Kaseya Center in Miami.
Cejudo praised O’Malley’s (18-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC) striking, but was critical of Vera’s tentative approach.
“Sean’s f*cking good, man,” Cejudo said on his “Pound 4 Pound” podcast with Kamaru Usman. “When it comes to striking, he’s got good fakes. Everything that he was doing before, now he’s a lot tighter. His distance was better. He was able to really pick Chito apart like you wouldn’t believe. I’m a bit disappointed with Chito.
“I’m thinking Chito’s going to at least fight him, at least attempt a takedown, but Chito never attempted anything. Flat-footed, never faked, never used all that – like, he was pretty much just missing. He kind of pulled the same card when he fought Cory Sandhagen, just fought in the last 10 seconds of the fifth round.”
After losing to Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 298, Cejudo (16-4 MMA, 10-4 UFC) expressed interest in fighting Brandon Moreno next. He also now sees Vera as an option.
“I don’t know where this dude’s head is, but the only thing that I could say, there could be a potential fight with me and ‘Chito,'” Cejudo continued. “I think because of the ranking. I don’t mind it. I’m still trying to get that Brandon Moreno fight, but ‘Chito,’ especially the way he’s performing, he just decides to fight in the last minute of every five-round fight. I just don’t know where his head’s at.
“I don’t know if it’s that pressure that gets to him. But either way, man, the dude had no tactical fighting, never attempted a takedown, never attempted to really cover the distance and just bring the fight, was reacting to Sean O’Malley, to all his fakes. I’d never seen somebody twitch so damn much, and that was like the biggest thing.”
Cejudo is baffled by Vera’s game plan. He expected him to eventually try and mix things up.
“It was a striking war, (but) ‘Chito’ never brought it,” Cejudo said. “This is the same reason why you’ll probably never touch a UFC title because they just focus in on striking. I’m thinking, ‘Hey, if you’re getting outstruck, pull some of the wrestling, attempt a takedown.’ Dude, you’re a big dude. I mean, get to his legs, put him against the cage, clinch him, do something. But unfortunately, ‘Chito’ didn’t do any of it.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 299.