UFC 252 live blog: Sean O’Malley vs. Marlon Vera

This is the UFC 252 live blog for Sean O’Malley vs. Marlon Vera, the bantamweight co-headliner for Saturday’s fight card at UFC APEX in Las Vegas.

O’Malley is unbeaten in professional competition and has won four straight in the octagon, while longtime standout Vera hopes to get back in the win column after a decision loss against Yadong Song in his previous outing.

Check out the UFC 252 live blog below.

Round 1: Herb Dean is the third man in the cage for this co-main event. O’Malley comes out and lands a heavy low kick to start. Both men leaving a lot of space to start and O’Malley is active with kicks, both traditional and side. A few low kicks have landed for O’Malley and that could become a problem for Vera if he doesn’t figure something out. Vera is biting on the feints and does not look comfortable in there yet. Jon Anik comes in with an incredible fact that both men in this fight have a longer “leg reach” than Stipe Miocic and now that he mentions it, these are some leggy dudes in there. Vera is starting to settle in and the pace here has slowed down. O’Malley steps forwards and buckles awkwardly to the mat. He’s back up but he’s clearly walking gingerly and something is wrong with O’Malley’s leg and Vera’s team sees it and is urging their fighter on. O’Malley is now in full retreat but he’s clearly limping. Vera still has’t been able land anything and now O’Malley is coming in. Vera ducks and O’Malley falls to the canvas. Vera follows him down and lands a massive elbow that has O’Malley in trouble! A couple of follow up shots and Herb Dean steps in. It’s a weird stoppage because O’Malley is still fighting but maybe it’s not a bad one considering O’Malley’s clearly shot foot? Either way, it’s a win for Vera.

OFFICIAL DECISION: Marlon Vera defeats Sean O’Malley by TKO (strikes) 4:40 of Round 1.