UFC 299’s Sean O’Malley confused by star power detractors: ‘Go find one Miami card they didn’t stack’

Sean O’Malley isn’t feeling the love ahead of his first title defense.

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) returns to Miami, Florida for UFC 299 on March 2, 2024. In what will be the promotion’s third time hosting an event in the city, O’Malley will defend his Bantamweight championship in a rematch against Marlon “Chito” Vera in the main event.

The historic UFC 300 pay-per-view (PPV) will follow O’Malley’s return, taking place on April 13, 2024. Despite the card still having several months to take shape, fans and members of the mixed martial arts (MMA) community are growing concerned with the potential of the fight line up. With only six fights and no main event yet confirmed, UFC recently announced the first of presumably several title fights, Strawweight champion, Zhang Weili, vs. Yan Xiaonan. Comparing the two events, O’Malley has felt some backlash.

“Over there in China, I’m sure it’s probably very exciting,” O’Malley said of Zhang vs. Yan on his BroMalleyShow podcast. “Weili is a killer. The other girl is probably really good too. So, it’s probably gonna be a sweet fight. They always have sweet fights. Weili had a sweet fight when I fought [at UFC 292], remember?

“UFC 300’s looking good, but UFC 299…” he continued. “It’s so funny that the cards are so stacked and people wanna spin it to be, ‘See! I told you you weren’t a star. They’re really stacking your card.’ Like, wait, what? I’m confused. That means I’m not a star because they’re stacking the card?”

O’Malley’s star power came into question around this past Christmas (Dec. 25, 2023) after his previous opponent, Aljamain Sterling, said he was unimpressed by their UFC 292 PPV numbers in August 2023. The event saw O’Malley claim the title from Sterling with a second round technical knockout (watch highlights).

Comparing UFC 299 and UFC 300 isn’t quite fair at present, as the latter is still coming together. Meanwhile, UFC 299 is likely finalized with a 13-fight line up. In regards to the Miami market, UFC 287 in April 2023 and UFC 42 in April 2003 are the only other times the promotion has held events there. All three are single-title fight events.

“It’s Miami,” O’Malley said. “Go find one Miami card they didn’t stack. Haters are weird. They’re like, ‘See, they’re trying to push you.’ It’s like, bro, I’ve fought like 12 times in the UFC. Pretty much every fight’s been on the main card — on a pay-per-view.

“Obviously, UFC’s a business, they’re making millions and billions of dollars, and I’m on every UFC pay-per-view. So, you’d think, well, maybe, there is some kind of star power there, hmm?”

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