SEAN O’MALLEY continued his reign as bantamweight champion with a dominant display against Marlon Vera in their hotly-anticipated rematch.
The fan favourite looked to make his first defence of the 135lbs throne on Saturday night in the main event of UFC 299 in Miami.
Standing between the colourful character and a new ruby on his title was former foe Vera, who knocked him out cold nearly four years ago.
O’Malley, 29, was adamant he’d exact his revenge on the Ecuadorian and prove his victory at the UFC Apex was a fluke.
And he did just that with a dominant decision win, which he hopes has laid the groundwork for a champ-vs-champ fight against featherweight king Ilia Topuria.
He roared: “Dana get me a jet to Spain. I’m coming for Ilia Topuria.
“If you guys want me to knock out Merab [Dvalishvili], I’ll do that, too.”
Bitter rivals O’Malley and Vera opted not to touch gloves after referee Keith Peterson kicked off proceedings.
O’Malley was happy to stay on the outside and looked to feint his way in as Vera gauged his range with front kicks.
Defeaning chants of, “Ecuador, Ecuador, Ecuador” rang throughout the arena in a bid to spur ‘Chito’ on to victory.
O’Malley soon landed a straight right after they faded away, but a blocked body kick from Vera brought them back to life.
A switch to southpaw paved the way for O’Malley to land a beautiful straight left, which drew a big reaction from the crowd.