Marlon “Chito” Vera put on one hell of a show when he faced off against Dominic Cruz in the UFC Octagon at UFC San Diego over the former champion with a vicious Knockout of the former Bantamweight champion. Vera has many options at 135 in our opinion. In this piece we’re going over the matchups that make sense for the rising Bantamweight. It all depends on who wins matchups at the top of the division in coming months.
The first fight I think that makes sense for Vera is the winner of the matchup between Petr Yan & Sean O’Malley. Yan is a striking master with a background in Boxing and Muay Thai the former Champion has been training hard since his title bout that he lost against current champ Aljamain Sterling. The Yan O’Malley matchup doesn’t really make sense but a matchup between Vera and Yan would definitely make more sense. As would a rematch between Vera and O’Malley the pair definitely have unfinished business.
Jose Aldo faces off against Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 278. I think the winner of that matchup would also make sense for Vera. Aldo is one of the best fighters in the lower weight classes in UFC history with 7 title defenses of his 145 pound belt. Vera could be an interesting matchup for Aldo because they both can Grapple, but both have striking games so it’d be interesting to see where the fight would end up. Dvalishvili is a black belt in Judo, but the majority of his wins come from the Judges so it would be cool to see Vera try to Submit or Knockout the Georgian.
One matchup I really like for vera is Cory Sandhagen. Sandhagen has an impressive 14-4 I think Sandhagens striking and grappling would be put to the test with Vera. as Chito can go toe to toe and I think the grappling exchanges would go in Vera’s direction I want to see this matchup. But it all depends on Sandhagen’s next performance when he faces off against Song Yadong who is a really tough matchup for the 135er but I think Vera vs Sandhagen is really the fight to make if the matchups above don’t work out.
I’m super excited to see who Vera takes on next as he is definitely on his way to a title fight.
MMA Aficionado 