Surging UFC bantamweight Marlon “Chito” Vera feels like he’s closer than ever to a title shot. The bantamweight title queue feels a little clogged by the likes of reigning champ Aljamain Sterling and former champs T.J. Dillashaw and Petr Yan. Even the supposedly retired Henry Cejudo, who claimed he was unimpressed by Vera’s landmark victory over Dominick Cruz, is trying to return to bantamweight glory.
In such a heavily stacked division, Vera is happy to take on elite competition on his way to the top, and deliberately called out Henry Cejudo in an interview with The MMA Hour. He also took the chance to blast those complaining about Cejudo, a former two-division champion, coming back to hold up the title race.
Marlon Vera Reacts to Cejudo: “He Can Get it!”
“He can come back, too — he can get it. Since he’s a former champ, he never lost the belt, he just retired — maybe because USADA scared him, who knows — if he comes back and skips the line, that wouldn’t bother me. Really. Why would that bother me? I feel like these guys get so crazy.
We are adults and they really b**** about [stuff] like, ‘Oh, you’re retired.’ F***, these guys are f****** p******. What the f***? This is f****** fighting, boys, this ain’t f****** Disney channel or something like that. You can’t fight for a spot like that. Just f****** call Dana [White] and he will tell you the truth. ‘I’m next? Yes or no?’ There’s no b******* or f****** crying. So if he comes back, he comes back too. He can get it. Anyone can give it to him. I can definitely give it to him. So we’ll see what happens. Keep it simple, keep it real, keep it going.”
As for his own title shot, Vera simply said “I would love to”. “I’m not full of s***. I don’t waste my energy on things I cannot control. The UFC likes me? Yeah, sure. They love me. Dana likes me? 1,000 percent.
They want me to be a world champion? Sure. I sell the arena. If that arena would be with 3,000 people, 4,000 people, they’re like, ‘OK, we have a little problem. Maybe just keep winning like that to see what we can do.’ The way I won, how I put the crowd on their feet, that’s all they want. All the smoke, and I have it.”
Do you think Marlon Vera has what it takes to become a UFC champion? Let us know in the comments.
