Bantamweight contender Marlon Vera believes his former opponent Sean O’Malley was gifted a split decision win over Petr Yan at UFC 280 this past Saturday.
UFC 280 lived up to the hype, and the stacked card in Abu Dhabi delivered. Two title fights closed the show in the lightweight and bantamweight division. However, the real talking point from the event came after Sean O’Malley edged a split decision victory over No.1 ranked Petr Yan.
Fighters, fans, and analysts took to social media to express their shock at O’Malley being awarded the split decision. At the end of the day, the ‘controversial’ decision comes down to the judges scoring criteria, which many who call “robbery” haven’t read through the criteria. Was Petr Yan’s takedowns and control time on the mat damaging and effective? Or did O’Malley’s ability to not absorb punishment from his back, get back to his feet, and land more significant strikes score more effectively on the judge’s scorecards? On the night, two believed so.
In the most recent The MMA Hour show, Vera weighed in on his former foe’s victory and, like many people, wasn’t convinced.
Marlon Vera Discussed Sean O’Malley’s “Gift” Victory at UFC 280
“When the fight was over, my opinion, I got… A lot of people have it 3-0 to Yan,” Vera said. “I got 2-1 to Yan. The body language of O’Malley was, you know, a very language of like, ‘I lost the fight.’ Then when they give it to him, I thought it was a gift decision, but again, f*ck it, you know? The guy won the fight. Now he’s gonna have a number one next to his number I guess, but I believe it was a gift. I believe he got the decision gifted, but we’ll see what happens with that, you know?
It was a close fight. Both guys hurt each other and I think everything comes down to the tag that’s on the control time. I feel it was a similar fight to my fight with Song Yadong if you ask me my personal opinion.” Vera told Helwani
With no opponent booked for Marlon Vera, would you like to see him run it back with Sean O’Malley?
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
