Chito Vera’s upcoming fight takes place in the enemy territory known as Brazil, but the fighter chose to compete on the card because it was the easiest way to get a bout.
“To be honest, I think it was the easiest way to get a fight (accepting one in Brazil). Everybody wants to be on the Texas card (UFC Fight Night Austin) because its cool, or Orlando (UFC On Fox 28). I was trying to fight there, but I kind of see it was getting late (to get on either card) and I didn’t get the call for those cards. I was like, you know what, I’ll go for Brazil and I know they (the UFC) would send it (a fight) to us. You have to be smart to understand that not the whole world would want to go to over to see me fight in Brazil, besides the Brazilians. I don’t care, I want to fight, so I asked the UFC about Brazil and they were like ‘OK, lets do it,’” Vera said in an exclusive interview with Fightful’s James Lynch.
The bantamweight star is actually winless in the country of Brazil during his UFC run, dropping a decision to John Lineker at UFC Fight Night Sao Paulo.
Speaking of the Lineker fight, a confident Vera says a victory would come his way if the two were to battle again.
“That was a great fight, I was working my ass off. I was looking forward to my fourth straight win, but sh*t happens. I didn’t do enough to win, I think it was a close fight. Probably outside of Brazil, it would be a draw. I watched the fight a couple of times, it was close for the first two rounds. Those rounds, I was pretty good, I put on pressure. I think I was close to finishing him, I need to figure out a couple of things. It is what it is, as soon I don’t get my hand raised, I left it written in the cage and I come back one day to just keep improving. I feel that I’ve improved a lot from that fight, I feel more experience because of who I fought and I look forward to what is next. That’s (the Lineker fight) in the past and there are no hard feelings, but I know if we fight again (if an opponent gets injured)…I will finish him of we fight again. It wasn’t easy, but I would do it for sure. I know where I am right now and what I could do and I can hang with anybody in the division,” says Vera.
UFC Fight Night Belem takes place on Saturday, February 3 from the Manguerinho Arena in Belem, Brazil with Lyoto Machida and Eryk Anders headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, which airs on Fox Sports 1.
In the full interview, Marlon "Chito" Vera (12-4-1) discusses his upcoming fight against Douglas Andrade (24-2) at UFC Fight Night 125 on Feb. 3. Marlon also talks about his loss to John Lineker, new training partners for this camp and why he dislikes fighters cutting excessive amounts of weight.
