“Of course I’m ready – it’s the perfect time for training camp,” the Ecuadorian fighter said in an interview with Michael Bisping. “I’ll have time to recover and we both fight on the same day, so we’ll have the same amount of time to prepare. We’ll see who can back up their words with action. I’m not chasing hype, and I just want to win – that makes me more dangerous than the other guys who might fight him. I don’t care about the attention, the hype doesn’t bother me. I just want to make money and become a world champion, and I don’t care about the rest.”
Three years ago ‘Cheeto’ inflicted the only defeat of his career on O’Malley, winning the fight by technical knockout in the first round, and the Ecuadorian is confident his opponent won’t be able to get away with a knockout this time around.
“I’m going to beat the de*** out of him this time. When you win a fight a certain way, it’s hard to do it again, so I don’t plan on breaking his leg. I’m going to break his arms, his face, his ribs, his shins. I’m just going to fight him. He probably thinks I’m just going to kick him from a distance, but no, buddy – I can fight. I’m going to be right in front of you and I’m going to make you fight.”
Last weekend, Marlon Vera defeated Pedro Munoz by unanimous decision, putting his career back on track after losing to Corey Sandhagen, to whom he lost by split decision at the end of five rounds.