LAS VEGAS -- One of the fastest-rising prospects in mixed martial arts, "Suga" Sean O'Malley, suffered the first loss of his professional career on Saturday at UFC 252 -- under strange circumstances.
O'Malley (12-1) suffered a TKO loss to Marlon "Chito" Vera (18-6-1) in the first round of their 135-pound bout at UFC 252. The bout served as a co-main event to the heavyweight title trilogy fight between Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier.
Vera, who picked up his 10th win in the UFC, deserves credit for finishing the fight with hard elbows after O'Malley went down, but the bout was obviously compromised by some kind of injury to O'Malley's right leg early on.