UFC 299: O'Malley vs. Vera II (03/09/2024) - Miami, FL (Kaseya Center)

[Elsalvajeloco]

UFC 299: O'Malley vs. Vera II 
March 9, 2024
Miami, FL (Kaseya Center)

UFC Bantamweight Championship: Sean O'Malley © (135) vs. Marlon Vera (135) (first defense) - O'Malley, DEC (unanimous)
Dustin Poirier (156) vs. Benoît Saint Denis (155) - Poirier, KO (punches), R2 (2:32)
Kevin Holland (170) vs. Michael Page (170) - Page, DEC (unanimous)
Gilbert Burns (171) vs. Jack Della Maddalena (170) - Della Maddalena, KO (knee and elbows), R3 (3:43)
Petr Yan (135) vs. Song Yadong (136) - Yan, DEC (unanimous)

ESPN / ESPN+ Preliminary Card:
Curtis Blaydes (257) vs. Jailton Almeida (241) - Blaydes, KO (punches), R2 (0:36)
Katlyn Cerminara (125) vs. Maycee Barber (125) - Barber, DEC (unanimous)
Mateusz Gamrot (156) vs. Rafael dos Anjos (156) - Gamrot, DEC (unanimous)
Pedro Munhoz (135) vs. Kyler Phillips (135) - Phillips, DEC (unanimous)

ESPN / ESPN+ Preliminary Card:
Philipe Lins (206) vs. Ion Cuțelaba (205) - Lins, DEC (unanimous)
Michel Pereira (186) vs. Michał Oleksiejczuk (185) - Pereira, SUB (rear naked choke), R1 (1:01)   
Robelis Despaigne (261) vs. Josh Parisian (266) - Despaigne, TKO (strikes), R1 (0:18)
C.J. Vergara (127)* vs. Asu Almabaev (126) - Almabaev, DEC (unanimous)
Joanne Wood (125) vs. Maryna Moroz (126) - Wood, DEC (split)

*Forfeits 30% of purse for missing weight 

Event Bonuses ($50,000)
Performance of the Night: Robelis Despaigne
Performance of the Night: Michel Pereira
Performance of the Night: Curtis Blaydes
Performance of the Night: Jack Della Maddalena
Performance of the Night: Sean O'Malley
Fight of the Night: Dustin Poirier vs. Benoît Saint Denis

Attendance: 19,165
Gate: $14.1 million

[jaedmc]

This card is nuts.

Look at Michel Pereira and Ion Cutelaba hanging out on the earlies.

Curtis Blaydes vs. Almeida was a fight night main event. Now it's a prelim with Gamrot and RDA.

Every fight in the main card could potentially be fight of the year.

[Elsalvajeloco]

Robelis Despaigne may already be 67 years old already but I cannot remember being this jazzed for a UFC debut since...maybe Petr Yan ironically.

Holland vs. MVP may be the most boring fight in UFC history or one of the wildest. Very little in between.

[A.M.B.]

I’m actually expecting the main event to be a bit boring as well. O’Malley hasn’t gone 5 rounds before and I think he’s going to be very judicious with his strikes. Not the co-main tho, god damn.

[jaedmc]

It kind of depends on if Chito ever gets out of first gear and if O'Malley is perhaps a little spooked from the first fight.

Best case scenario is we get a mean and confident Marlon Vera, vs. the O'Malley that is dying to finish him. That's a compelling fight.

 

[Elsalvajeloco]

The reason I like Chito as a fighter is he refuses to have a strange, lackadaisical fight. Maybe he's due for a stinker, but that's just not how he fights. He's also getting an O'Malley who's going to be pretty confident coming off the Aljo fight and how well he looked against him. I think there will be a bull/matador factor just purely based on the styles but not enough to make the fight boring.

[Elsalvajeloco]

 

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[jaedmc]

Joanne Wood(Calderwood) ended her UFC career with a picture perfect spinning back fast.

[Elsalvajeloco]

Despaigne out here Despaigne'ing.

[jaedmc]

Almabayev is a hell of a wrestler. Will have to keep an eye out for him.

Can we just cut to Despaigne vs. Pavlovich.

[Elsalvajeloco]

It comes in threes...Mr. Crazy Shit Ion Cuțelaba headlines the early prelims.

[twiztor]

JoJo Wood goes out with a good win, in a fight i had her behind in.

Almabayev decimating Vergara. this kid is gonna do big things.

Despaigne proving all the hype correct. a KO while. moving. backward.

Pereira looked like a fucking champ. and after a walkout dance too!

awesome beginning!

[DreamBroken]

Good for Jojo to go out with a win and to do it avenging her first career defeat. She was an early favorite in the Invicta days. Though I do feel bad for Maryna, who I've become a bigger fan of, to now be on the 3 fight losing streak. 

[jaedmc]

Kyler Phillips is fucking dynamic. Interested to see his next fight, against someone higher ranked that can match his athleticism.

[jaedmc]

FUCK YA MY BOOOOOYYYYYY CURTIS BLAYDES

[jaedmc]

Why yes I did have money on Curtis Blaydes with that exact finish.

That fight went almost exactly how I imagined it. It was like a That's So Raven moment.

[Elsalvajeloco]

I feel like if MMA had a university, Petr Yan would be a tenured professor.

[Elsalvajeloco]

Okay, JDM made a believer.

[jaedmc]

Felt like the leash came off of Yan in the second and it was nice to see.

Love Gilbert Burns but what can you do about that knee. Jack can hang with anyone, so he's going to be in a LOT of entertaining fights for a long time with the Welterweight division. I don't know if he'll be dominant, but it'll never be boring.

Any combination of Ian Garry/JDM/Shavkat will be awesome. And then any three of those vs. Leon will be exciting. That's a lot of fun fights that we'll probably see over the next two years.

[jaedmc]

God, what if Kevin Holland just knocks MVP out after that entrance.