Rising UFC bantamweight Marlon Vera will be keeping a close eye on the UFC 273 co-main event between Petr Yan and Aljamin Sterling.
‘Chito’, who will be looking to elevate himself into title contention with a win over Rob Font in his next fight, thinks Yan is the superior striker and will use his boxing to devastating effect on April 9.
“That fight, on paper, it’s pretty easy (for) Yan,” Vera told Ariel Helwani during a recent appearance on The MMA Hour (h/t MMA News). “He just has way better striking,” said Vera. “But that’s the thing with MMA. Sometimes you don’t need to be Israel Adesanya to win a fight. MMA, the speed is different, the range is different. You fucking throw three hooks in a row and oops, you won. It’s not a sport like boxing or kickboxing, (where) most guys are like, perfect technique.”
“You see a guy who comes from jiu-jitsu not give two fucks and just start swinging from the fences, it’s hard to read those punches” Vera added. “That’s why you gotta spread across a little bit of everything. But, you know, everybody can punch in MMA. And there’s so many things you can do; clinch, fight on the fence. On paper, I do believe Yan kicks his ass. Because Sterling gets tired every time he’s not able to get a hold of you. He gets tired quick; he gets anxious. Yan is pretty calm in there.”
Yan was previously beating Sterling in their bantamweight title bout at UFC 259 but was disqualified after landing an illegal knee in the fourth round. Despite losing the title, ‘No Mercy’ is still considered the real bantamweight champ by most of his fans.
UFC 273: Volkanovski vs. The Korean Zombie is scheduled to take place next month, April 9 at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.
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