Marlon “Chito” Vera returns this weekend in Abu Dhabi where he looks to get back to winning ways in the bantamweight division.
Vera faces a tough test in former flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo but he has all the motivation he needs after how his last fight went.
The challenger was unable to really put his stamp on his 135-pound title fight with Sean O’Malley at UFC 299, where he was beaten convincingly over the five round contest.
His toughness was enough to keep him in the fight but even that was tested at several points by some sniper-like striking from “Suga”.
One strike, in particular, stole the show in March after O’Malley landed a knee that sounded even worse than it looked.
Marlon Vera Says A Punch In The Fifth Round Hurt More Than Viral Knee
Before he makes the walk once again this weekend, Vera reflected on his last fight and some of the damage that he took.
It says a lot about his heart and durability that he was able to make it to the final bell with many finding it hard to believe that he continued to fight on after that knee strike landed in the second round.
Vera spoke during his media day interview about what was going through his mind at that moment and how much damage the knee actually caused.
“Just to make a comparison, the punch in the fifth round that land perfectly on my eye, it wasn’t an eye poke but it felt like one, hurt me a million times more. Like I was fully blind, I was like, ‘F***!’ It was a perfect punch, props on him but I mean the knee really like kind of shocked me.
“I was like, ‘F*** I got clipped with something big,’ and I know it was the knee but I wasn’t like… my legs were there. I was just like, ‘F*** that really hurt,’ In terms of a hit but I would say my brain and my legs were there. I was just like don’t do that again. It was pretty much almost the same knee that I hit Font with.”
