Marlon Vera is an Ecuadorian MMA fighter who competes in the Bantamweight Division of UFC. He is currently ranked #3 in the UFC Bantamweight Rankings.
Marlon Vera lost his bout against Cory Sandhagen on March 25, 2023, at UFC Fight Night: Vera vs. Sandhagen via a split decision. The judges scored the fight 47–48, 50–45, and 49–46 in favor of Sandhagen.
Marlon Vera was born in Chone, Ecuador to a middle-class family and has an older sister and brother. He got into street fights during his youth and began training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu at 16 years old in Guayaquil. He started training as an amateur fighter in 2011 and had his first professional fight in February 2012, competing in regional promotions in Latin America.
In 2014, Vera tried out for The Ultimate Fighter and was selected to compete for Team Werdum in The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America. During the show, Vera defeated Henry Briones in the quarterfinals by knockout but was forced to withdraw from the semi-final bout due to a skin infection and was replaced by Guido Cannetti.
Vera debuted in UFC in 2014, but he lost his first fight against Marco Beltrán. He won his second UFC fight against Roman Salazar in 2015 and lost his third against Davey Grant in 2016. Vera was expected to face Ning Guangyou in 2016, but the fight was postponed several times until it took place in November of that year, which Vera won.
Vera won his next two fights against Brad Pickett and Brian Kelleher in 2017. However, he lost his next two fights against John Lineker and Douglas Silva de Andrade in 2017 and 2018, respectively. In 2018 and 2019, he won fights against Wuliji Buren and Andre Ewell, respectively.
Vera fought Song Yadong on May 16, 2020, at UFC on ESPN: Overeem vs. Harris in a featherweight bout. Despite putting up a good fight, Vera lost the bout via unanimous decision.
Vera's fight against Sean O'Malley in August 2020 ended in his favor, but he lost a fight against José Aldo in December 2020.
Vera won a rematch against Davey Grant in 2021, and he defeated Frankie Edgar in November 2021.
In April 2022, Vera fought against Rob Font in a non-title bantamweight fight at UFC on ESPN 35. Font weighed in at 138.5 pounds, two and a half pounds over the limit, which resulted in the fight proceeding at a catchweight. Vera won the bout through a unanimous decision and was awarded the Fight of the Night bonus as well as Font's bonus due to his weight miss.
Later in August 2022, Vera faced Dominick Cruz at UFC on ESPN 41 and won the fight through a fourth-round knockout, earning the Performance of the Night award. Although Vera was scheduled to fight Cory Sandhagen on February 18, 2023, the bout was moved to UFC on ESPN 43 on March 25 for unknown reasons. Vera lost this bout via a split decision.
The co-main event of UFC 252 on August 15, 2020, featured a bantamweight bout between Sean O'Malley and Marlon Vera, which Vera won via TKO in the first round.
Marlon Vera made his UFC debut on August 23, 2014, at UFC Fight Night 48.
Marlon Vera's nickname is "Chito."
Marlon Vera has a professional MMA record of 20 wins, 8 losses, and 1 draw.
Marlon Vera competes in the Bantamweight division of the UFC.
Last Updated March 23rd, 2023
