Marlon Vera and his team had a pretty good idea that he could finish Dominick Cruz in emphatic fashion.
In fact, Vera’s coach, Jason Parillo, sent the fighter an image early in the week foreshadowing the head kick knockout that would end Cruz’s night in the UFC on ESPN 41 headliner at Pechanga Arena in San Diego on Saturday night.
“Like six days ago, my coach sent a picture,” Vera said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “It was literally [Pedro] Munhoz kicking his body [in their fight at UFC 269], and his head was dipping all the way down. He didn’t text anything, just sent me the picture. I picked it up like he’s giving me a message. And in the third round he told me, ‘Punch in the air, have him dip, and throw a f—ing haymaker.’ And I was like, ‘Thank you, coach.’”
When his opponent dipped his head, Vera landed a vicious head kick that sent Cruz face first to the canvas, and a few follow-up shots sealed the victory at the 2:17 mark of Round 4. While Cruz had the better volume in the bout, Vera landed the more powerful shots — including a trio of knockdowns. “Chito” knew he simply had to wait for the right opportunity.
“I was just being patient, I was taking my time. I dropped him in the first round, and when I dropped him I didn’t go crazy. I didn’t try to chase the finish, I never chase the finish. I don’t have any problems standing in front of you and finding those openings,” he said.
While Cruz is lauded for his unorthodox movement and striking, Vera wasn’t especially impressed by the style entering the fight.
“Honestly, me and my team, we really think the way he fights is kind of very low level,” Vera said. “There’s no base, there’s no good stance, all that movement side to side — we told each other, ‘We have to kick this guy’s ass.’ But by saying that, you put a lot of pressure on yourself.
“I just believe that his style is not the best style for MMA. Maybe for boxing it can work better, but for MMA you’ve got way too many weapons going. What he does well, he mixes takedowns with that movement. That’s when he’s successful. But I was like, it’s going to be hard for him to take me down, so we were pretty confident, but we knew this fight wasn’t easy.”
Vera adds Cruz to a growing resume that also includes triumphs over the likes of Rob Font, Frankie Edgar and Sean O'Malley. Vera is in his peak years, and he plans on going as far as he can in the bantamweight division. The win over Cruz was just the fruits of his labor.
“Everything I did leading to this fight has paid off – hard work, staying consistent, staying focused, don’t be f—ing around in the media,” Vera said. “Just be consistent. These are the best years of my life ahead of me right now. Why not be all in? … Those performances don’t happen like that if you’re just going halfway. I’m all in.”
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