Athletes
Marlon Vera Is Still Looking To Reach His Destiny
Bantamweight Marlon Vera Believes His Fight Against Deiveson Figueiredo Will Get Him Back On The Road To Achieving His Ultimate Goals In The UFC
Marlon Vera is ready for Saturday’s fight with Deiveson Figueiredo, and nothing was going to distract him, not even early morning doctor visits to get blood drawn before he left his home in California for Abu Dhabi.
“They'll only find steak and vegetables,” Vera said of the blood test results before I inform him that a blood test will only find pizza and Oreos in me.
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He laughs, even though I’m telling the truth, and he’s in good spirits in his first fight since a March defeat to UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley in their highly anticipated rematch. It was revenge for “Suga Sean,” and a punch to the gut for “Chito,” who now starts again on his road to a world title.
“They (the UFC) said, ‘Hey, what about this guy (Figueiredo)?’ And I said, ‘I'm healthy, send the papers and let me get back on the horse and climb back up the mountain.”
A mountain sounds pretty imposing when you’ve been doing this at the highest level of the sport for nearly a decade, have 23 UFC fights under your belt and have been facing killers night in and night out, with this Saturday night against the former flyweight champion being no exception. But, at 31, and with a No. 4 ranking at 135 pounds, maybe it’s a hill that needs to be climbed, and not a mountain.
“It's pretty much that,” he admits. “It's that close, but I like to see it a little worse so I can take it more seriously.”
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Vera has always taken this fight game seriously, and that’s why he’s where he stands today. Yet in the rematch with O’Malley, he just couldn’t get out of second gear, and though he rattled the champion with a body shot in the fifth round, it was too little too late.
It hurt, but the Ecuador native had to let it go.
“You have to let it go in order to grow,” said Vera. “It doesn't mean you forget, doesn't mean it's not there, but you have to move forward from it and just look for answers and keep it going. Why be negative or salty or just poison yourself with bad things? You might as well be happy, because it's a short ride we got here.”
If he found those answers, we’ll see what they are on Saturday against Figueiredo, who is 2-0 with wins over Rob Font and Cody Garbrandt since moving to 135 pounds last year. Vera likes the fight more than a proposed meeting with Henry Cejudo that didn’t come together.
“It's a better fight,” he said. “It's a healthy fighter with a better record, and a former champion who’s undefeated at my weight.”
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And one who believes a win over a Top Five foe will propel him into an opportunity to become a UFC double champ. Vera has no interest in being anyone’s steppingstone. He has his own championship destiny to achieve, even if it means climbing the mountain again.
“Sometimes you just got to get up and keep going, and that's up to us,” Vera said. “There's an option where you can give up and don't do it or you can do it. And that's where I feel I am right now. I'm just trying to get it back and do it again.”
Don't miss a moment of UFC Fight Night: Sandhagen vs Nurmagomedov, live from Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on August 3, 2024. Prelims start at 12pm ET/9am PT, while the main card kicks off live on ABC, ESPN & ESPN+ at 3pm ET/12pm PT.
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