Sean O’Malley’s August 2020 loss to Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera has been officially scrubbed from the record books, according to the UFC’s bantamweight champion.

O’Malley scored his first defence of the UFC’s 135-pound championship on Saturday night in Miami, Florida in what was a one-sided five-round decision win against Vera, avenging his sole career loss to date in the process. But that defeat close to four years ago, which came after O’Malley sustained a nerve injury to his lower leg which severely hampered his movement, has now effectively been ruled as a no-contest — according to O’Malley himself.

“The Sugar State Athletic Commission, they said if I win this fight, they’ll take away that first fight away, so I’m officially undefeated again,” O’Malley told the media, including The Mac Life, in the Sunshine State late on Saturday. “It feels really really good, so we’re just 1-0 right now.”

“I knew I was better than this guy for three-and-a-half years,” he later added. “I knew the first fight was a fluke, so it felt good.

“I wanted that finish so bad, I thought I could sit in the pocket and f*cking trade. He hit me with a nice body shot, and I was like, I already whooped his ass. I’m going to sit down and chillax a little bit.”

O’Malley was near-flawless at UFC 299, rarely placing himself in Vera’s firing line, with the Ecuadorian struggling to land much of consequence throughout the 25 minutes. But for the champ, the manner of his one-sided win was just a confirmation of what he already knew.

“I always knew I was better than him. It never bothered me once that that fight played out like that. Look where I was at. I beat Thomas Almeida in one of the most beautiful performances I ever had [afterwards]. That fight never bothered me. I try not to care what people think. I knew I was better than him. It took me three-and-a-half years to prove that, and I did.”

You can watch O’Malley’s full comments in the video above.