Marlon Vera’s upcoming fight was originally supposed to look a lot different than a dance with Dominick Cruz in San Diego, California.
“Chito” and Cruz will headline this weekend’s (Sat., Aug. 13, 2022) San Diego Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) return. According to Vera, however, the opponent and location first offered were fairly different.
The date remained the same, but instead, it was proposed as Vera versus another former Bantamweight titlist, Petr Yan, in Boston, Massachusetts. To Vera’s knowledge, “No Mercy” wasn’t ready for the opportunity.
“Petr Yan, that fat c—t, declined the fight because he was eating pizza in Italy,” Vera said on The MMA Hour. “And he said, ‘Oh, I don’t have time to make weight, I don’t have time to prepare.’ If I’m that easy money, why don’t you say, ‘F—k it, I’ll finish my slice and kick your ass’?
“But, he declined the fight, he said he wants to fight in November, October, so I was like, you ain’t that cool to wait for you, buddy,” he continued. “I want options, I wanna fight, I wanna make money. Come on, let’s go. They (UFC) went, ‘Well, he declined, now we move. Do you wanna fight Dominick Cruz?’ I was like, ‘Sure, why not?’ Why am I gonna lie? That’s not trash talking, that’s not beef between me and the Russian fat guy. He just didn’t have the time. He was on a little trip in Europe, good for him, dude.”
With Vera fully focused on his task at hand, seeking a fourth straight win by beating the division’s arguable best ever, Yan gets back in action on Oct. 22, 2022, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates against a past opponent of Vera’s, Sean O’Malley.
The Ecuador native is the only one to have defeated O’Malley (15-1, 1 no contest), earning a first round technical knockout in Aug. 2020.