Marlon Vera attempts to capture the gold from Sean O’Malley in Miami this weekend at UFC299 but is ‘Chito’ deserving of his shot at the title?
Marlon Vera: Mr. Inconsistent
Before diving into whether Marlon Vera is deserving of his shot at the title this weekend, I need to profess that I am a big fan of ‘Chito’. His attitude to fight anyone, anywhere at anytime is something that appeals to the fan in me. But that isn’t what we are here for. We are here to determine whether ‘Chito’ is worthy or fortunate to challenge for the gold in Miami.
I have labelled this sub-heading as ‘Mr. Inconsistent’ because when we talk about Marlon Vera, I think that is a fair assessment. When we look at ‘Chito’s’ career to date, there have been some outstanding performances. Unfortunately, the scales of outstanding and lackluster performances remain firmly balanced. Vera has beaten names that many expected him to lose to. In the same breath, he has lost to people that he absolutely shouldn’t have.
The trouble with ‘Chito’ isn’t necessarily the wins and the losses though. After all, that is just a part of this sport. It’s the performances in those wins and losses. We’ve seen ‘Chito’ look good, and lose. We’ve also seen him look poor, and win. So let’s take a look at the standouts.
Marlon Vera: The Early Resume
‘Chito’ debuted in the UFC back in 2015. Currently sitting with a record of 23 wins, 8 losses and 1 draw, Vera has finished 16 of his opponents, 8 KO’s & 8 Submission’s. Almost half of these finishes came inside the first round. Even more impressively, or concerningly if you’re Sean O’Malley, he has never been finished.
‘Chito’s first loss in the UFC came at the hands of Darlington’s very own ‘Dangerous’ Davey Grant. Vera came back strong though with highlight wins over the UK’s own ‘One Punch’ Brad Pickett & Brian Kelleher. Back-to-back losses followed shortly after at the hands of John Lineker & Douglas Silva de Andrade. A five fight win streak then saw ‘Chito’ return to form, finishing all of his opponents. This run, saw him given the opportunity to fight Song Yadong but Marlon once more slipped to defeat.
The Recent Years
Then came Sean O’Malley. A hot prospect with a serious amount of hype. It seemed, at the time, that this match-up had been made to give Sean O’Malley a tougher test, but one that he was expected to come through. However, a leg injury to O’Malley & some vicious ground & pound saw Vera hand O’Malley his first & only loss. After upsetting the applecart, Vera was again rewarded with a fight against former king and hall-of-famer Jose Aldo. It was again a knife in the heart of the career for ‘Chito’ who once more had slipped to defeat.
Then came the resurgence. A rematch with Davey Grant saw ‘Chito’ avenge his prior loss to the Englishman before Marlon Vera delivered a statement front-kick knockout to another hall-of-famer in Frankie Edgar. It was three on the spin for ‘Chito’ as he absolutely battered a resilient Rob Font from pillar to post to earn a unanimous decision win. Then came Dominick Cruz. Cruz, who is considered by many as the bantamweight GOAT, certainly had his moments against Vera and it seemed as though the Ecuadorian was on his way to another defeat. However, a violent head-kick in the fourth round switched Cruz’s lights out and saw Marlon Vera move to a four-fight winning streak.
‘Chito’ went on to face fellow top-contender Cory Sandhagen. Sandhagen, who can be a tough nights work for anyone, showed why he belongs at the top. Comfortably beating Vera in a one-sided showing to halt the momentum of Marlon Vera once more. ‘Chito’ beat Pedro Munhoz last time out in an uninspiring performance. Yet somehow, he finds himself fighting for the gold this weekend.
Plenty of Heart but Known for a Slow Start
Marlon Vera is known, as we have just been through above for what can only be described as an up & down / stop & start trajectory. It isn’t just ‘Chito’s’ career as a whole that we can say this about though. We can say the exact same thing about his actual fights round-by-round.
Vera has not been stopped in any of his previous 32 fights. There is no question that as far as heart, toughness and determination, ‘Chito’ has it in abundance. Unfortunately another thing that ‘Chito’ is well known for, is his slow starts. So, so often it can take until the third round for Marlon Vera to actually wake up and realise that he is in a fight. In my personal opinion, this is one of the main causes for Vera having so may losses on his record. In a three round fight, he just doesn’t get going in time. By the time he is able to tap into that urgency alarm in his brain, the fight has so often already been lost.
This is something that Marlon Vera and coach Jason Parillo have tried to address but as yet, they don’t seem to have found the cure.
‘Suga’ Sean O’Malley Vs Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera… 2?
Officially, this is Sean O’Malley vs Marlon Vera 2. But is it really? The first fight ended prematurely, mainly due to an injury to O’Malley. You could also argue that both men are absolutely a different version of themselves than the ones that stood across from one another previously. Both have grown, both have improved. But what have we seen so far?
Well… I maintain (as a huge ‘Chito’ Vera fan) that we haven’t yet seen enough of Sean O’Malley. Yes, he has looked great. But against who? Now I know, I know, a lot of you will be shouting at your screens that he has beaten Petr Yan & Aljamain Sterling. Here’s my caveat. Personally, I don’t believe that ‘Suga’ did beat Petr Yan. I believe that Yan deserved to get the nod on that night. I also believe that ‘Aljo’ was ‘forced’ into taking the O’Malley fight sooner than he would have liked and it was an Aljamain Sterling that was overdue a move to featherweight. In addition, we haven’t seen what Sean O’Malley’s gas tank is like over 5 rounds. ‘Chito’ has done five rounds before. Sean was forced to show that he has heart in his fight with Petr Yan and for me, despite thinking he lost the fight, this ticked a massive box.
For ‘Chito’ it’s a matter of this. How good is he, really? When you take wins and losses in this game, it is to be expected. Yet for ‘Chito’ he has lost to a lower than elite caliber of fighter. Does this prove that he isn’t elite? Maybe. What I would say in argument to this is… If Sean O’Malley had fought all the names that Marlon Vera has fought, would he have a nearly perfect record? I don’t think so.
Marlon Vera: Deserving or Fortunate
Well, listen. I’ve rambled on enough. Here we are. We’re finally getting to the sub-heading for which this article is titled. Does ‘Chito’ deserve his shot at the gold.
The answer is not so straightforward. In short, for me, no. Marlon Vera does not deserve to be fighting for gold this weekend. However, neither did Sean O’Malley. The thing is, the bantamweight division has been a weird place for fighters over the last couple of years. We have had ‘Aljo’ as the champ. He refused to fight his best mate Merab Dvalishvili who most would concede has been the legitimate number one contender for a while now. We’ve had the inactivity of Dominick Cruz. The fall from grace of Rob Font. The return of Henry Cejudo. The return & retirement (again) of TJ Dillashaw. The even bigger fall from grace of Petr Yan and finally the injury to Cory Sandhagen.
The bantamweight division has been a mess. That mess though, left the door open for Marlon Vera. ‘Chito’ is ranked at number 5. Yet here he is, challenging for gold. Of course, you make your own luck. ‘Chito’ took the fight with O’Malley (part one). O’Malley got injured, leading to ‘Chito’ winning the fight. Then Vera picks up some wins over some big names. Albeit, retiring / end of their careers big names. Merab refuses the shot, Cejudo loses again, Sandhagen gets injured.
I’m not knocking ‘Chito’ though. As a fan, I’m delighted for him. But yes, in my opinion, Marlon Vera is very fortunate to be challenging for gold this weekend against Sean O’Malley.
Official Prediction
It would be cowardly for me to delve into this fight in such depth without giving you my official prediction. So here it comes.
I believe that Sean O’Malley is still fairly untested. He has all the skills in the world but I am yet to see him over five rounds. Sean started the first fight brightly but even before the injury, ‘Chito’ seemed to be getting into a rhythm. I think we see O’Malley vs Yan 2 here. I think this will be violent and I think it will be fun.
This fight will come down to who wants it the most. If I had to choose one of these fighters to coach, or manage, it would be O’Malley. He has all the skills and all the talent in the world. In my opinion though, he is not yet the finished article.
I think the dog inside ‘Chito’ is bigger than the dog inside Sean O’Malley and I think when the going gets tough in the championship rounds one of these fighters will refuse to let up. That, for me, will be ‘Chito’ Vera. I see a close but bloody contest through the first three rounds but the accumulative damage to Sean O’Malley will wear him down.
Official prediction. Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera to win via TKO in round 4. And New.
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
