Marlon Vera doesn’t see his loss to Song Yadong as a step back.
Vera (17-6-1 MMA, 9-5 UFC) suffered a controversial decision loss to Yadong at UFC on ESPN 8 after a fight that was scored in his favor by the vast majority.
He was adamant he won the fight and though the judges thought otherwise, Vera hopes that the UFC books his next bout as if his hand was raised.
“I do feel like this is going to throw me ahead no matter what because it wasn’t only two people who told me I won the fight, it was the entire world telling me I won the fight,” Vera told MMA Junkie. Sean Shelby told me ‘Yeah, we thought you won that fight.’”
Vera hopes he will be treated in a similar way to Jose Aldo, who was booked to fight for the bantamweight title despite losing to Marlon Moraes in his previous matchup. The record books showed that Aldo had lost, but the UFC treated him as if he had won.
“I’m guessing they’re going to give me a fight that is ahead if I would have won the fight, because Aldo lost to Moraes, but he won the fight in everyone’s eyes,” Vera continued. “He put the pressure, he was walking forward, he did everything he could to win the fight and then the judges gave it to Moraes and who got the title shot?
“So I feel I’m in that position…I’m in the position where I’m going to receive an opportunity as a winner in this fight.”
As for what that next step entails, Vera is looking for a relatively quick turnaround and is eyeing two household names of the bantamweight division for his next fight: Urijah Faber and Dominick Cruz.
“I would like to fight in the next 60 days,” he said. “Going back to the gym, I’m feeling good, my lungs are good. I will go first with the Faber thing. He jumped on the scale, he made all this drama for the Instagram that he was ready to fight – my team told him he’s not fighting. We pushed for Song Yadong because it was the harder fight, the kid with the hype so we were ready for that.”
“If he wants to do it, if he wants to man up and actually jump in a real fight, I’m down for that. And then about Cruz, I was looking at the rankings, I’m (No.) 15, he’s 11 so I’m like, position-wise, I’m right there. He’s coming off a loss, I’m coming off a loss so I feel it’s the perfect time to make the fight happen if he wants to fight.”
Marlon Vera says UFC matchmakers should treat him as a 'winner,' despite recent loss