Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera knows he needs to pick things up early in fights, and that’s exactly what he plans to do this Saturday.
The one-time UFC bantamweight title challenger faces surging contender David Martinez in the co-main event of UFC Mexico in Mexico City. Vera enters the fight on a three-fight skid, the longest of his fighting career, although he feels he was robbed by the judges in his recent loss to Aiemann Zahabi at UFC Vancouver this past October.
Vera believes, despite the loss on paper, he did do more in the first round, which has been a knock against him as he’s been a fighter that starts a bit slower, then picks things up. When asked if the plan would be to get really aggressive early on against Martinez, Vera delivered a candid response.
“I hope so,” Vera told MMA Fighting. “It’s just because it’s so easy, I mean, to sit back, and if you have a good defense and good eyes, but it would have helped me more if I were to be a boxer. But I’m not a boxer, but, just [need to] find the mental state to let you say, ‘F*ck it, just go.’
“I mean, I got power, I got good reflexes, I got good instincts, so that’s what I’m going to put in play this week and just let it go. Just be free again.”
Three fights ago, the 33-year-old was fighting Sean O’Malley for the bantamweight title. Vera dropped that fight via decision, then dropped a decision in his next bout against another former champ in Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC Abu Dhabi in August 2024, and looks for his first victory since UFC 292 in August 2023, a unanimous decision victory against Pedro Munhoz.
When he as approached with the fight with Martinez, Vera didn’t have a lot of time to prepare as it was on somewhat short notice. But he made it through the initial test from his coaches.
“It was simple,” Vera said. “I got a call and I said, ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’ Then, of course, I talked to my coach and then I was in Italy with my family and he said, ‘Let’s do this. I know you’re not drinking and you don’t smoke, and you’re not partying, so it’s going to be a simple find out. You arrive on Sunday, I will have three guys in the gym on Monday. Spar a round with each one, and then if you feel good, if you look good to me, sign the contract.’
“And then off the plane, we went straight to like pretty normal sparring and I was like, ‘Oh shit, I’m not out of shape.’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, you don’t get out of shape unless you’re doing the wrong things, right?’ So yeah, we took the fight right away. I knew the challenge – quick guy, moves well, hungry, but so do I.”
Martinez makes just his third octagon appearance. After a quick knockout win in his debut, “Doctor” picked up a massive win against Rob Font in the co-main event of Noche UFC this past September.
With Petr Yan capturing the bantamweight title in December at UFC 323, it added another wrinkle to an already rapidly-changing divisional landscape. Vera has climbed to the near top of the mountain once before, and he believes he can remind fans of that on Saturday with a big win against a rising prospect.
“It means almost like take over the wheel,” Vera explained. “Take over the wheel and keep moving forward, and [make] a statement. Remind the division that I’m still here and, and of course, the UFC. But I mean, the UFC has been very good to me. They keep putting me in good spots, so it’s almost like I have to like, ‘OK, you guys keep giving me good chances, I’m going to make it right.’
“It’s not like before I didn’t want to make it right, it’s just, I mean, I can’t answer that, but knowing that deep down, and maybe just got to get a little more aggressive in there and keep pushing. Just keep pushing. …
“It’s Mexico City, so we got to f*cking get in a proper fistfight.”
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