Two bantamweight fan favorites have reportedly been booked to face off in a main event bout, as former champ Dominick Cruz takes on rising contender Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera.
According to a report via Calos Contreras Legaspi of ESPN Deportes, Cruz and Vera have both accepted the fight offer, and will headline a Fight Night main event on August 13. It is also noted that Alexa Grasso vs. Viviane Araujo will serve as the cards co-main event.
Marlon Vera is on an excellent run of form, having picked up consecutive victories over Davey Grant, Frankie Edgar and Rob Font. Whilst he did come up short against Jose Aldo four fights ago, prior to that he had knocked out Sean O’Malley in one round.
Dominick Cruz still holds a remarkable statistic that he is undefeated in non title fight matchups, with his only losses coming against Henry Cejudo, Cody Garbrandt and Urijah Faber. ‘The Dominator’ has an impressive 24 wins on his record, and has truly fought a whos who of the bantamweight division over the past decade. He holds impressive wins over the likes of T.J. Dillashaw, Pedro Munhoz, Demetrious Johnson, and Urijah Faber.
Marlon Vera calls out Dominick Cruz
Marlon Vera has called out Dominick Cruz multiple times in the past, though for no doubt a multitude of reasons, the former champion has always declined. Recently, Vera featured as a guest on The MMA Hour, where he once again called for the fight, only this time, it appeared to work. He stated that:
“Before, in the 10 times he declined to fight me — I’m not calling you a p****, but he declined a couple times in the past — he was always talking, he wanted to fight [opponents who were] above him [in the rankings]. Guess what? I’m above you right now, motherf***er. So now we can go. Now we can go.” (H/T MMA Fighting).