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A few days ago, former UFC champion Henry Cejudo released a video that said he was going to appear at UFC 292, the upcoming pay-per-view event scheduled for Aug. 19 at the TD Garden in Boston, Mass. His goal? To secure another championship opportunity against the winner of Aljamain Sterling vs. Sean O’Malley.
Cejudo said he would either serve as a backup fighter for Sterling vs. O’Malley or fight someone else in a potential No. 1 contender, teasing an announcement on his decision in the next few days. Now, we have it.
Henry Cejudo vs. Marlon Vera agreed upon For UFC 292
UFC president Dana White shared with Brett Okamoto of ESPN that Cejudo has verbally agreed to fight Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera.
In his most recent appearance, the former two-division UFC champion returned after a three-year retirement against the aforementioned Sterling. After five rounds, Cejudo fell short against the ‘Funk Master,’ who he lost to via split decision at UFC 288 this past May. Though he originally pondered another potential retirement, the 36-year-old opted against it and set his sights on someone with a direct line to a rematch with Sterling.
That someone was Merab Dvalishvili, the Serra-Longo Fight Team teammate of Sterling and UFC contender on a nine-fight win streak that includes wins against Marlon Moraes, José Aldo, and most recently, Petr Yan. Dvalishvili expressed interest in Cejudo, but there was a hiccup in getting to a fight with him. In the Yan fight, the ‘Machine’ exacerbated a pre-existing hand injury, which he underwent surgery for recently. With Dvalishvili sidelined, Cejudo had no interest in waiting, so he accepted one of his next options in Vera.
Following a unanimous decision loss to Aldo, Marlon Vera rattled off four consecutive wins, two of which were KOs of former UFC champions in Frankie Edgar and Dominick Cruz. On the cusp of his first UFC championship opportunity, ‘Chito’ had to get through one more fight that came against fellow contender, Cory Sandhagen. For the first time since 2020, Vera suffered a loss, losing a split decision to the ’Sandman’ at UFC San Antonio this past March.
Cejudo and Vera are ranked at No. 3 and No 6 in the official UFC rankings, respectively.
Cejudo and Vera have traded barbs before
Henry Cejudo has had plenty to say about his upcoming opponent, Marlon Vera. One recent instance was after ‘Chito’ lost to Sandhagen. From what he saw, Cejudo was not impressed with Vera whatsoever.
“Hey [Marlon Vera] your takedown defense is almost as bad as the p—y on the back of your head,” tweeted Cejudo. “Get to the back of the line.”
That fiery response came after Vera said Cejudo was only returning to the UFC due to dire financial reasons.
“He’s broke,” said Vera at media day for UFC San Antonio. “What’s the point to come back when you retire on top? You come back because either you need attention and you miss that thing, or you need money. He is a little guy. They need attention.”
Updated UFC 292 line-up
With the addition of Henry Cejudo vs. Marlon Vera, the updated line-up of UFC 292 is as follows:
- Bantamweight: Aljamain Sterling (C) vs. Sean O’Malley
- Strawweight: Zhang Weili (C) vs. Amanda Lemos
- Bantamweight: Henry Cejudo vs. Marlon Vera
- Welterweight: Geoff Neal vs. Ian Machado Garry
- Middleweight: Chris Weidman vs. Brad Tavares
- Bantamweight: Cody Garbrandt vs. Mario Bautista
- Middleweight: Gerald Meerschaert vs. Andre Petroski
- Flyweight: Andrea Lee vs. Natália Silva
- Flyweight: Maryna Moroz vs. Karine Silva
- Middleweight: Gregory Rodrigues vs. Dennis Tiuliulin
Stay tuned to Bloody Elbow for more updates to the event as they become available in the coming months.
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