At UFC 299 on Saturday, Chito Vera will be one step closer to realising his dreams as he looks to become the ninth UFC bantamweight champion, taking on Sean O’Malley.
Marlon Vera has been a permanent fixture in the 135lb division for the past 10 years, and if he is able to dethrone Sean O’Malley on Saturday night he will become the champion with the third most amount of fights, before claiming the belt.
Hailing from Manabi Ecuador, the 31-year-old didn’t automatically grow up knowing he wanted to become a professional Mixed Martial Artist. In fact, he grew up wanting to be part of the Jackass crew.
He told Bussin’ With The Boys, that it was a friend who suggested he starts jiu-jitsu to try and keep him out of jail, and onto the straight and narrow. “One of my neighbours who is still a good friend to this day, he was training jiu-jitsu and he was like a white belt with four stripes but back then if you already had four stripes, you were a killer.
“He told me dude, stop getting in trouble, you’ve been in jail three times already for no reason, stop drinking and being stupid. I also grew up trying to act like I was part of the Jackass movie. So we’d film ourselves doing stupid stuff, I hope we could find those videos because we have some crazy footage.” Chito said.
The support from his father which changed his life
After his friend suggested that he joined a jiu-jitsu class, Chito decided to ask his dad to make the investment in him, which fortunately, he did.
At first he admitted that his father didn’t have faith in him sticking at it, but the Ecuadorian become obsessed with the sport that made him realise he could become ‘something’.
“My homie came to me and said come with me one day (to Jiu-Jitsu), it was a Thursday and I said how much is a month for that (classes) and he said no just do it for the first three classes for $60. I said Dad, can you give me $60 and he gave me a check for $60.
“I get there and I give the check for the whole month (of classes) and he was like dude you probably won’t come back anymore. I never stopped coming back, until today I trained my whole life. When I started training there I slowly stopped hanging around my friends. When I found Jiu-Jitsu I was like oh my god, I can be something with this.”
Although his journey began in Ecuador, the path led him the The United States where he began training more regularly and seriously. It was a year of being good at school the led to his father allowing him to go to America for the first time.
“I didn’t get in trouble one year in school so he gave me a present and sent me on a cruise with my family, with the wealthy side of my family and I thought I was the coolest man on earth.” Chito added.
There is no doubt, that if Chito Vera claims bantamweight Gold on Saturday night, he is taking that belt straight back to Manabi, Ecuador, where 100’s of other kids will be inspired.