- Jon Anik told Marlon Vera that he was almost the new bantamweight champ via text message
- The UFC commentator thinks “Chito’s” final body shot at Sean O’Malley was the best strike of the UFC 299 main event
Jon Anik let Marlon Vera know how close he was from being the new bantamweight champion.
Chito was just a minute late
Speaking on Anik & Florian podcast, the veteran UFC commentator read the everybody the exact test message he sent to Vera after his UFC 299 title fight loss to Sean O’Malley. In it, Anik pointed out that “Chito” was just about a minute late with that body shot that saw “Sugar” taking a moment to recover and if it landed earlier, he would’ve been the new champ.
“Well I’ll tell you what I texted Marlon Vera yesterday and often times the hardest thing for me is after one of my friends, and I’m friends with both of these guys, but after somebody loses a fight like this, what do you say?
“So I wrote ‘I look up to you a lot my man, inspired by your effort, your fan base is amazing, when we showed you arriving to the arena, that place went absolutely f**king nuts and if that body shot lands one minute earlier, you’re probably the champ. Heal up my brother, much love.’”
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It was Chito’s best shot
Looking back at it, Anik concluded that Vera’s buzzer-beater body shot in the final round was not only the best strike of the fight but more importantly, it was his best shot at beating O’Malley.
“So that body shot at the end of the fight, a perfect left hook essentially on the horn and Sean O’Malley eventually like cripples over up against the fence as he sort of recovers and I don’t know if I’m suggestive of the fact that maybe had ‘Chito’ just managed risk a little bit differently earlier that this could have materialized… That body shot was one of the most debilitating strikes landed in that fight on either side and it was Chit’s best shot and it just happened to come literally at the end of the fight,” Anik said.
It is yet to know what lies ahead of Vera. As for “Sugar,” the champ appears to be serious about moving up to featherweight and making his boxing debut.
Watch Anik’s full podcast episode below:
