Marlon Vera believes win over Jimmie Rivera would catapult his career

Marlon Vera knows what’s at stake in his next bout.

In arguably the biggest fight of his career, the Ecuadorian competitor will take on top bantamweight contender Jimmie Rivera at UFC 247 on Feb. 8 in Houston, Texas. Rivera is seventh in the UFC official 135-pound rankings, making him one of the highest-ranked opponents Vera (17-5-1) MMA, 9-4 UFC) has faced.

But more than just the matter of fighting someone who’s high on the ladder, Vera also enters the bout with plenty of momentum. The 27-year-old is on an impressive five-fight win streak with all victories coming via submission or technical knockout.

A win over a name like Rivera on top of five stoppage wins could put Vera in a very good position in the division. Of this, “Chito” is well aware.

“One hundred percent, this fight is the one that’s going to set me on the path to the belt,” Vera told MMA Junkie. “After winning this fight, I will be No. 7 in the world, and from that point on, there’s probably two more well-done fights to get to fight for the title.

“So there are a lot of things on the line here. I’ve been very focused, and nothing will change for this fight. Eat, train sleep and when there’s time, then that’s for the family. Sometimes we say family first, but first is work because one does it for the family. So once I’m in camp my wife knows, I try to explain to my kids, and everything is towards the fight because winning that fight is more valuable than anything in the world. My head is 100 percent in this game.”

Rivera is not on the wild 20-fight win streak that had him as one of the most promising contenders in the UFC just a couple years ago. In fact, he’s 1-3 since 2018, but those defeats have come to the top of the division – fighters who are currently in title contention.

Despite the recent loses, Vera still sees Rivera as a threat at 135 pounds and considers him to be among with the best.

“MMA math is never clear,” Vera said. “But what I do know is that watching the fight between Jimmie and Petr Yan, Jimmie was winning the entire time. He was hurting him, but he let Yan hurt him at the end of the first two rounds and that gives the advantage to Petr because a knockdown is worth more than leg kicks and volume striking. So he (Yan) had one knockdown in each round, that’s why he lost the fight.

“The fight with Marlon was a quick fight and in those quick fights it’s hard to gauge how good a person is. And we’ve seen that if Marlon doesn’t KO you in the first round, he slows down a bit, so it’s true he’s coming off two losses, but the loses are coming against the top five. It’s no easy defeats so that let’s me know he’s still tough.

“I’m working on improving and being stronger than him. And when the cage closes, I’m going to be the one with my hand raised. But I’m not only going to win, I’m going to finish him. I’m going to do what Sterling and Yan couldn’t do.”

Both Vera and Rivera were linked to fight years ago in early 2017 when Rivera’s original opponent for UFC Phoenix, Bryan Caraway, pulled out of their scheduled fight due to injury. Vera was offered as a replacement option for Rivera, but “El Terror” opted out, claiming Vera wasn’t good enough to fight him.

Now in the UFC’s rankings and on an impressive streak, Vera believes this is the perfect time to fight Rivera.

“I already proved that the ones who are lower on the ladder I finished, so it’s time to take on a bigger challenge and it’s now that I have to prove myself,” Vera explained. “With words everyone can, everyone can talk until they fall. I’m going to hell everyday so the day I step on the cage I’m comfortable. I’m training in a way that they can’t train. I’m going to my limits and then surpassing them.

“I know it’s not just words because you guys have seen how I train already. I think this is the fight that’s going to catapult me. It’s on a good time for me and a bad time for him. When we were first going to fight, it would’ve been much milder for him. The “Chito” that he’s getting now will make him cry.”