One of Chito Vera’s all-time UFC performances took place 3 years ago today.
A little before his 2024 title rematch with then champion Sean O’Malley, Ecuador’s Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera was one of the hottest contenders in the talented UFC bantamweight division.
Prior to a main event loss to top contender and this weekend’s headliner Cory Sandhagen, Vera had cashed in on $250,000 during an impressive four-fight win streak.
Vera brutally knocked out former champions Dominick Cruz and Frankie Edgar and earned ‘fight of the night’ honors against Davey Grant and knockout artist Rob Font, who had nearly double his strike count.
Chito Vera knocked down Rob Font three times in bloody battle
Font and Vera met in the five-round main event of UFC Vegas 53 on Apr. 30, 2022. Font had missed weight for the bout with Vera making the boxer pay for every pound in each round.
New England’s Font is known for his slick boxing and knockout power but the story of this fight was his quantity vs. Vera’s overwhelming quality.
The heavy-handed Font had his moments in the early rounds but it was Vera who found the bigger shots, putting the American ropes multiple times.
Across 25 minutes of stand-up action, Vera recorded 3 knockdowns on Font that had his opponent badly hurt. Vera battered and bloodied Font, opening a sizable cut over his left eye, which had massive swelling.
Rob Font outlanded Chito Vera in every round and still lost
By round 5, Font wore insane damage on his face while Vera looked unscathed.
Saved by the bell twice, Font survived to see the distance with Vera winning their fight by unanimous decision, two judges scoring the contest 4 rounds to 1 for the Ecuadorian.
On paper, the stats told a completely different story with Font outlanding Vera in strikes in every round. In rounds 1-3, Font essentially doubled the significant strikes Vera had.
In the significant strike totals, Font beat Vera 271-159, landing nearly 199 strikes to the head of Vera. In total strikes, Font had the edge with 273-167.
Font threw 520 strikes across five rounds compared to Vera’s 291. Though, the numbers wouldn’t help him as Vera clipped with multiple fight-ending shots to secure him a relatively lopsided win.
With this win, Marlon Vera emerged a top-5 contender at 135lbs. ‘Chito’ pocketed $100,000, taking Font’s fight of the night bonus because he missed weight.
Vera’s coming off back-to-back losses to former champs Sean O’Malley and Deiveson Figueiredo, looking to bounce back against Mario Bautista at UFC 316 on June 7th.