Leading up to UFC 299, former bantamweight UFC Champion Aljamain Sterling stirred controversy by stating that Chito Vera ‘did not really have a great camp’ and anticipating an incredibly boring matchup.
Sterling also expressed his belief that O’Malley would win by decision. When questioned about these remarks during media day, Chito offered a different perspective on Aljamain’s claims.
Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera brutally slams Aljamain Sterling
Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera strongly criticized Aljamain Sterling in response to Sterling’s claims about Chito having a poor training camp. “Aljo, dude. He’s so hungry for attention. He never received attention in the UFC,” stated Chito, referring to Aljamain’s controversial title run after his disputed victory against Petr Yan.
Chito Vera goes off on Aljamain Sterling after he said he heard Chito had a bad camp for #UFC299
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) March 6, 2024
“Aljo dude. He’s so f***ing hungry for attention. He never got attention in the UFC.
He became a world champion, he defended, he got booed in f***ing Jersey against f***ing Cejudo.… pic.twitter.com/OBpewKEsm6
“He became a world champion, he defended, he got booed in f***ing Jersey against f***ing Cejudo. Who gets booed against Cejudo. Holy sh** people f***ing hate you,” added Chito, referring to Aljamain getting booed against Henry Cejudo, somebody who already has a bad reputation amongst many UFC fans.
“Now you’re becoming a YouTuber because your fighting career is probably not going too well,” said Chito, who is fighting Sean O’ Malley, the same opponent that knocked out Aljamain and took the UFC Bantamweight Title from him in UFC 292.
“I mean I don’t wanna knock down on anybody. But he heard? We have a private gym. There’s no janitor in our gym. It’s the same 3 people year-round. Saturday night, you guys will see how bad of a camp I had,” Chito concluded.
Things further became intriguing when Micheal Bisping, the former UFC Middleweight Champion shared his thoughts after having a conversation with Chito’s coach.
“Parillo (Chito’s coach) was laughing his head off. He’s like ‘no, Chito didn’t have a bad camp’, in fact he sent me some of the footage. Let me tell you right now, Chito Vera is looking like a nasty bastard. He’s knocking people out in training.” said Bisping discussing the same on his YouTube channel.
Aljamain Sterling believes Chito vs O’Malley to be boring main event
Aljamain Sterling compared the Sean O’ Malley vs. Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera matchup to the disappointing Francis Ngannou vs. Derrick Lewis fight, emphasizing the lack of output and activity by both fighters. He also drew a comparison with the Rose Namajunas vs. Carla Esparza bout, another notorious matchup among Strawweight fan favorites.
Aljamain Sterling says that he heard Marlon Vera is having a bad camp pic.twitter.com/PYlrltNlGq
— Casual MMA (@CasualMMAinc) March 4, 2024
When asked about the matchup’s outcome on The Weekly Scraps Podcast, Aljo expressed his expectation for O’Malley to win. He doesn’t anticipate any finishes and believes O’Malley will secure a decision victory after 25 minutes of back-and-forth action in the octagon.
The Funk Master lost his title to Sean O’Malley in August of the previous year and decided to change weight classes. This decision was not only because Aljo had been a dominant champion with many successful title defenses but also due to his friend and training partner Merab Dvalishvili, who was on a title run and did not want to take it from Aljo or fight him.
With UFC 299 absolutely stacked with matchups, who do you think takes fight of the night? Does O’ Malley take revenge against Chito? Let us know your thoughts.
