Marlon vera doesn’t think there’s any question about who will win the UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling versus interim champ Petr Yan at UFC 273..
“It is pretty simple, Yan,” Vera stated recently during The MMA Hour . “He just has way better striking.”
Sterling and Yan are set to settle their rivalry this Saturday in the co-main event of UFC 273. The two bantamweights previously collided in March 2021 at UFC 259, with Sterling becoming the first fighter in UFC history to win a title by disqualification after an illegal knee strike from Yan in Round 4 rendered Sterling unable to continue. Yan led the scorecards when the foul occurred — something that has caused a lot of controversy.
Sterling has been on the sidelines since his victory, but complications from neck surgery kept him there. Yan took his interim title in October by beating Cory Sandhagen.
With his own dance date with Rob Font looming, Vera will be an interested observer to the festivities at UFC 273. A win over Font on April 30 and Vera will climb within shouting distance of title contention. This means that Sterling vs. Yan 2 may soon be within his reach.
And with Yan slated as high as a 5-to-1 favorite to exact his revenge against Sterling on several online sportsbooks, Vera can’t help but think the oddsmakers have it right.
” That’s the beauty of MMA. Sometimes you don’t have to be Israel Adesanya in order to win a fight,” Vera stated. “MMA is very different from other forms of fighting. The speed and range are different. You can f****** throw three hooks in a row and, hey, you won, and the other guy didn’t see it coming. It’s not like kickboxing or boxing. Most guys are like perfect in their technique. It’s boxers against boxers. They did boxing all their lives.
“But you see a guy that comes from jiu-jitsu and doesn’t give two f**** and just starts swinging for the fences — it’s hard to read those punches. You need to be able to spar with some of the different styles. But everybody can punch in MMA. You can do so much with the small glove. You can clinch, you can fight on the fence.
“So, on paper, I do believe Yan kicks his ass, because Sterling gets tired every time he’s not able to get ahold of you,” Vera continued. “It’s like his heart rate gets high pretty quick, he gets a little anxious, and Yan is pretty calm in there. It’s a feeling I enjoy, it almost feels like I’m doing the same thing. I’m trying to get someone up but I’m actually chilling out .”
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