Marlon Vera will enter UFC Fight Night 107 as a late replacement and fight Brad Pickett.
Pickett will be retiring after the fight and Vera is ready to send the veteran packing.
“I feel good. One of my teammates, Ian McCall, already fought Pickett before, so he told me what to do and my coaches are telling me what to do. I feel good and I’m pretty happy and it’s going to be an honor. I’m happy he accepted the fight against me for his retirement. It’s going to be great for me,” Vera said to MMA Junkie.
The retiring Pickett actually has more fights in the UFC than Vera has in his entire professional MMA career. A fight against Pickett, even as a late replacement, is an opportunity that Vera jumped at.
“When Briones pulled out, this was the third time this has happened and the first time I remember I was on the same (UFC Fight Night 84) card and I was supposed to fight David Grant,” Vera recalled. “When I saw Briones pulled out the first time, I called my management and said I wanted to fight the big name. But that was hard to do to switch opponents and Francisco Rivera got the fight. But it’s like destiny because a year later, the same opponent pulled out and I was like, ‘Hey, this time I have no opponent, so I want to take this fight.'”
UFC Fight Night 107 takes place on Saturday, March 18 from The 02 in London, England with Jimi Manuwa and Corey Anderson headlining.
