Marlon Vera wants to clarify his “low level” comments about Dominick Cruz.
This past Saturday, Vera knocked out Cruz in the fourth round of the main event of UFC San Diego. After the fight, Chito said that Cruz’s style wasn’t the best for MMA and was very low-level. This angered some who believed Vera was adding salt to the wounds of Cruz. However, he did not intend to do that. Speaking with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, Vera made it clear that he stands by what he said, but that he has a ton of respect for Cruz.
” I respect 1000% him for the things he has done,” Vera stated. Vera said, “He made bantamweight fashionable.” He was the name that brought up the bantamweights. He was a champion when he was fighting others. His cool personality made the division popular. That’s why there is a huge gap in names between 125 & 135. He was WEC champion and came to UFC where he won the belt. Even when he was injured over the years, no one forgot about it. He comes back, he did what he did against [Takeya] Mizugaki, which was f****** phenomenal, then again he broke f****** something, comes back and beats T.J. [Dillashaw]. That’s f****** amazing. But I can’t bring any of these emotions or respect once we’re fighting.
“I’m going to explain a little bit when I say the low level thing. Talking about fighting technique, it doesn’t matter what your style is. Israel Adesanya is a flashy guy, very technical and has a solid foundation. His technique is sharp as f***, but he’s really flashy. With Dominick, the … movement that he does, me and my coaches, we think that’s a low-level style to do MMA. It’s just our opinion. Although it’s unlikely that this is a true fact, we might be able to prove it by the manner in which we ended him. He sucks, but I was not talking s***. He doesn’t seem to be a suck. We don’t believe certain movements work in MMA. There are kicks, elbows and knees. You can find so many more. You can make some tricks, but you don’t have a solid base.
” When I refer to a good base, it means solid fundamentals. You should be able to throw good combinations, do well with your footwork, and move correctly [movement]. Although it may seem a bit more difficult, technically and correctly for us it is not. That’s an opinion. Yes I said it like that and I mean, it just sounds a little f***** up. You might think I was talking about s ***. I wasn’t talking s***. I do respect him… I have respect for him and I appreciate what he did, because without a guy like that, maybe bantamweight wouldn’t be what it is.”
Cruz was a pioneer in MMA. He became the UFC’s bantamweight champion after the promotion absorbed WEC in 2013.. Although his career suffered from ongoing injuries, Cruz was able to defend his title three times. He is still considered the best bantamweight in MMA and won the judges’ scorecards the first two rounds with his signature style. Ultimately it was Vera who got his hand raised though, landing a vicious head kick in the fourth round that put Cruz out, and “Chito” says that was always what was going to happen, he just needed to be patient.
“I was expecting the movement,” Vera said. “I know he’s really good, when you throw a combination he goes side to side and then he comes back with something. But it’s very easy to say that, but once you’re in there, it’s a different animal. It’s not my style to fantasize about him and say things like “Oh, I’m going after him!” The man is as tough as anyone I have fought. He f ****** has balls. I know he will try his best. One thing I did remember from his last fight was the [Pedro] Munhoz fight. Munhoz dropped him and then Munhoz unloaded. He threw every single ounce just to put him out. As you can see I was very calculated when I dropped him. I never went ape s***, I never went crazy. I was like, ‘Take your time, be a sniper.’ When you have somebody hurt, you don’t have to kill him, you just have to touch him again, touch him again. And coach was doing a great f****** job of telling me the right little things, and I think we showed up a little better than the last fight. We’ll be even more impressive next time. We’re adding more wrinkles to our game. I feel like I’m getting better by practice, I’m better by every day on the job, and I’ve said it and I’ll say it again: I’m becoming a problem, because I’m getting better. I’m getting better.”
Vera certainly does seem to be improving. After losing to Jose Aldo in 2020,, Vera has won four consecutive matches. This includes devastating knockouts Cruz as well as fellow MMA legend Frankie Edgar. Vera is now the No. 5-ranked bantamweight in the world according to the UFC rankings and could be fighting to the title in the near future, and with that in mind, Vera is already over the Cruz win, and looking ahead to what comes next.
“That performance was f****** cool, but that’s in the past,” Vera said. “I don’t live in [the past] or enjoy myself because of what I just did. I forgot about it. I’m going to take the good, try to take away the bad, and get better for the next one. I don’t live for that moment. Different things are what I want to do. This is business. This is business.
