Marlon Vera believes Aljamain Sterling should be credited for his TKO win over TJ Dillashaw at UFC 280 to defend his bantamweight title.
Sterling was looking to defend his belt for the second time when he took on Dillashaw in the co-main event in Abu Dhabi. The lead-up to the scrap was full of trash talk, however, Sterling dominated from start to finish in large part due to Dillashaw dislocating his shoulder early.
Marlon Vera’s Take On The Victory
After Sterling got the TKO win, Dillashaw revealed he dislocated his shoulder around 20 times throughout training camp but was set on fighting. With that, Vera says Sterling’s win is legit and no one can take that away from him.
“It was a great fight,” Marlon Vera said. “Nothing taken away from Aljamain,” Vera said on The MMA Hour. “He won fair and square. T.J. came injured, but he came to fight. If he were to pull it off he would be a hero right now, but s*** happens. His shoulder came out and sad for him, but the champion kept the belt, and good for him. Aljamain won the belt, fair and square. If your shoulder came out, if your nose came out, if your hair came out, who the f*** cares? He won the fight, period.”
After Aljamain Sterling got the win, he called out multiple people including Marlon Vera and the hope for ‘Chito’ is he does get the crack at the belt.
If Vera does get the title shot, he’s confident he will be too much for Sterling and will be the UFC champ.
Chito Vera has tunnel vision on the bantamweight belt
"I can guarantee ill be the UFC bantamweight champion" via The MMA Hour#UFC pic.twitter.com/Ku30Cci3wl
— All Access MMA (@AllAccessMMA247) October 31, 2022
“He’s got the belt, it’s as simple as that,” Vera said. “He’s big for the division, he’s got good grappling. A lot of people talk s*** about his striking, but the guy is still throwing everything he has. He throws a lot of kicks, he throws all that kind of s***. His striking’s probably not what Adesanya brings to the table, but he definitely can strike.”
“So I think that’s why people sometimes sleep on people like that because they sometimes look goofy and s***, but they’re still trying to kick your head off… I know most of these guys are dangerous if not all of them. So I’ll be ready for him or whoever else comes my way. But if you ask me, I can guarantee I’ll be the UFC bantamweight champion. Anytime. This year, next year, whenever the UFC wants to make it.”
Do you believe Marlon Vera will be the bantamweight champ?
