Marlon Vera had Dominick Cruz’s number on Saturday.
“Chito needed some time to get Cruz under control, but by round four he had him locked down and landing a devastating head kick to leave Cruz on the floor. This was the end of the main UFC San Diego event. It was the fourth straight win for Cruz, who entered the weekend as the No. 7 bantamweight in MMA Fighting’s Global Rankings.
Vera was asked by reporters after the fight if Cruz’s standup style was causing him any confusion. He said that Cruz was just being a difficult opponent.
“Honestly, me and my team, we really think the way he fights is kind of very low level,” Vera said. We told one another, “There is no base. There’s no good position. All that side-to-side movement. But, by saying this, it puts a lot pressure on ourselves.
“I just believe that his style is not the best style for MMA. It might work well for boxing, but it is not the best for MMA. He does a great job mixing takedowns and that type of movement. That’s when he’s successful. He was like “It’s going to hard for him to get me down”, so I thought we were quite confident, but it wasn’t an easy fight .”
Cruz’s career achievements include a 24-4 record and championship reigns in the UFC and the WEC. His evasiveness, durability and only one loss in knockouts are legendary. He fought Vera on Saturday. That loss, a second-round TKO at the hands of Henry Cejudo at UFC 249, was hotly disputed by Cruz, but there was no debating Saturday’s finish.
Vera actually had Cruz hurt on a couple of occasions earlier in the bout, but he exercised caution as opposed to rushing in for a finish.
” I was being patient and taking my time,” Vera stated. He dropped me in round one, but I wasn’t mad when he dropped me. I didn’t try to chase the finish, I never chase the finish. It’s not a problem for me to stand in front of you, and find those openings.
” “He is in great shape,” Vera said. Vera said, “When you are in good shape you can get up again and he can do a lot of scrambling.” So when I dropped him the first time in the first round, the first thing that came to my mind was what happened in the [Cruz vs. Pedro] Munhoz fight. Munhoz rushed the finish and then he kind of left everything in the first round, so I just told myself, ‘I’ve got f****** four more rounds to break this guy, so don’t get crazy.’ This thing (points to head) is a motherf*****, so I was like, ‘Just stay focused and you will catch him.'”
With the knockout, Vera increased his UFC bantamweight record to 10. His past three wins have come against ranked opponents (Cruz, Rob Font, Frankie Edgar) and he has one of the strongest cases for a title shot in his division.
However, there are several contenders in the same range, including the likes of Petr Yan, Sean O’Malley, Jose Aldo, and Merab Dvalishvili, all of whom are set to compete in the upcoming months and could block Vera’s path to a title. Aljamain Sterling is the bantamweight champion and will defend his title against T.J. Dillashaw in UFC 280 October.
Vera will be keeping an eye on his peers to see how they progress and what the title picture looks like.
” I pay attention to all UFC events, from top to bottom,” Vera stated. It doesn’t really matter who is fighting. I don’t care who wins the first fight or last fight. It’s what I enjoy watching. That’s the reason I love doing commentary, because I’m watching live. It’s easy to pick up the fighting energy and see the details. It’s clear that I am going to be paying attention. I will watch who gives [Sterling] the next .”
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