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Mike Tyson has shared his stance on Sean O'Malley's defeat to Marlon Vera ahead of their big rematch at UFC 299.
The rematch between O'Malley and Vera headlines a stacked UFC 299 on Saturday.
It's O'Malley's first defence of his UFC bantamweight title following his huge win over Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292 last August.
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And it's a familiar foe, having shared the Octagon with the Ecuadorian at UFC 252 back in August 2020.
Vera scored an upset win after stopping O'Malley in the first round, but the American fighter picked up a nasty-looking leg injury before the stoppage.
Tyson believes O'Malley would have won the contest had he not suffered a injury to his leg.
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Speaking in an episode of Hotboxin' with Mike Tyson, the boxing legend said: "I saw him lose a fight where he didn’t really lose. He broke his leg, he would’ve kicked this guy’s f**king a**."
O'Malley and Vera will renew hostilities almost fours year on from their original clash.
It's still the only blemish on O'Malley's professional record as he's won five fights since his defeat to Vera, picking up UFC gold in the process.
As for 'Chito', he's gone 5-2 since beating 'Sugar', outpointing Pedro Munhoz in his last UFC appearance.
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O'Malley is full of confidence ahead of UFC 299, believing he'll 'smoke' Vera.
"After that first fight, everyone was like, 'You gotta get that rematch, you gotta get that rematch,' And I said, 'I'll get that rematch when I want that, when it's time. When it's time for that rematch, I'm going to call for it and I'll get it'," he said.
"I could've gotten that rematch whenever I wanted. I was like, it's not the right time yet. Now is the right time, so I'm just very excited about that fight.
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"I don't want to talk him down too much, because I've got to build a fight. But I'm going to smoke this dude."
Topics: Mike Tyson, Sean O'Malley, UFC
Nasir Jabbar