Marlon Vera Reveals He Was Robbed of $200K in Watches the Night Before O'Malley Title Fight
Marlon Vera says someone stole his watch collection worth $200K from his home the evening before UFC 299.
Marlon Vera has revealed that his home was broken into the night before his UFC 299 bantamweight title fight against Sean O'Malley, with a safe containing approximately $200,000 worth of watches stolen from the property.
The robbery occurred around 7 p.m. the evening before the March 2024 fight in Miami. Vera told Michael Bisping on his podcast that his wife initially thought the security cameras going dark was a power outage. It was not.
"The guy came in, took the safe and took it through the front door. It took him five minutes," Vera said. The thief located the watch collection without searching the rest of the house, suggesting they knew exactly where to look.
Police informed Vera the next morning, hours before he was scheduled to fight for the UFC bantamweight championship. "I'm counting in my head like, 'Now I'm $200K short,'" Vera recalled.
Vera suspects the thief knew him personally, given how targeted the robbery was. Law enforcement never made an arrest, though Vera said someone provided a photo and name of a suspect.
Vera went on to lose his title challenge to O'Malley and subsequently dropped into a four-fight losing streak before finally snapping it with a stoppage victory over Charles Jourdain at UFC 331 earlier this month.
Whether the robbery affected his performance against O'Malley is impossible to know. But fighting for a world championship with a $200,000 hole in your bank account and the knowledge that someone close to you likely orchestrated it is not exactly ideal pre-fight preparation.
This story is wild and I am glad Chito finally told it. A guy walks in, grabs the safe, walks out the front door in five minutes, and the cops tell you the next morning, hours before the biggest fight of your life. That is a nightmare, and the part where the thief knew exactly where the watches were makes it worse.
Does it explain the O'Malley loss? No, and Vera did not claim it did. O'Malley was sharper that night. But anybody who says a $200,000 hole and the suspicion that a friend did it has zero effect on your head is lying. Fighters are human.
What I like is where Chito is now. He snapped a four-fight skid with a stoppage of Charles Jourdain at UFC 331, and he is telling the story from the other side of it. That says something about him. I hope somebody eventually gets arrested for this one.
