Marlon Vera knows his UFC San Antonio main event fight against Cory Sandhagen is a crucial scrap for the bantamweight title picture.
Currently, the bantamweight title will be on the line in the main event of UFC 288 as Aljamain Sterling is defending his strap against Henry Cejudo. After that, Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili are right there to fight for the belt, but Vera says he just needs to remain active and everything will play itself out.
“I’m ready to go, I’ve been ready to go for a long time,” Vera said to TMZ Sports. “I just want to get in there and compete and make another special night. When you are ready, you are cool with that, I’m in a great place.”
Although Vera isn’t sure who will be next after Cejudo, ‘Chito’ believes if he has a great performance against Sandhagen it will be hard to deny him, especially given he has a win over O’Malley.
“It’s all or nothing. I really feel at this point, you are just getting closer and closer,” Vera said. “A great performance will f*****g put you up there to fight for a belt. First things first, I got to go in there and win. I like to keep it real, I don’t like to get too flashy because there’s a lot going on. Just get in there, beat the f**k out of this guy, and move forward.”
Yet, as Marlon Vera is closer than ever to fighting for the belt, he says he won’t let that impact his performance. Instead, he says his UFC San Antonio main event against Cory Sandhagen is just another fight. Vera knows if he puts more pressure on himself, it will impact his performance, so he knows all he needs to do is win, and he will eventually get a title shot.
“To me, I don’t put any type of pressure on myself like that,” Vera said. “I put the pressure inside like I need to win, I work so hard for this. Winning is the only thing that I’m really thinking about. How it happens, when it happens, doesn’t matter, you just want to get it done.”
Vera is currently ranked third at bantamweight. He’s riding a four-fight win streak and is coming off a KO win over Dominick Cruz.
