Marlon Vera and Deiveson Figueiredo had a back-and-forth war at UFC Abu Dhabi. Figueiredo defeated Vera, earning his third consecutive bantamweight victory. On the other side, Vera suffered her second loss in six months. While the fight was mainly clean, Vera did raise some concerns.
While Marlon Vera showed good takedown defense, it wasn’t enough to keep the Brazilian out. In the last few seconds of the first round, Figueiredo ended the round with an axe kick to Vera’s face. The kick landed with Vera on the ground (grounded opponents cannot be kicked in the head). However, no points were deducted. As such, ‘Chito’ blasted the referee for not taking away a point after the fight.
That axe kick that he land on the first round that wasn’t a axe, that went straight to my face. I feel like that should have been taken a point deducted automatically that’s my thought. You don’t kick a ground opponent. If that would be a point deducted, we could be talking a different story.
Marlon Vera via Chito Vera Podcast
Other than that, Vera also insisted that he made several mistakes during the fight. The Ecuadorian fighter was disappointed for not being able to execute his game plan properly. Vera also mentioned that he shouldn’t have come back early after his last loss to Sean O’Malley in March. It also could have impacted his durability as Figgy became the first fighter to knock Chito down.
Chito Vera talks his loss to Deiveson Figueiredo and believes he came back too quick after his loss to Sean O’Malley.
He also believes that the referee should’ve taken a point from Figueiredo for an illegal strike at the end of the first round.
🎥 YT / Chito Vera Podcast #UFC… pic.twitter.com/zNOV39c76p
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) August 8, 2024
On the other hand, Figueiredo put on a great performance. The former two-time UFC flyweight champion is currently on a dream run and is a top bantamweight title contender. It appears he remains at least one win away from competing for the title. It would be interesting to see whether he makes history and wins the title against the champion.
UFC bantamweight champion reacts to Marlon Vera losing to Deiveson Figueiredo
UFC Abu Dhabi included two significant bantamweight fights. Other than Marlon Vera vs. Deiveson Figueiredo, the main event featured Umar Nurmagomedov taking on Cory Sandhagen. Nurmagomedov won the fight and immediately called out champion Sean O’Malley for a title shot next.
Sean O’Malley reacts to Marlon Vera’s loss against Deiveson Figueiredo (via X)
As expected, O’Malley had a close eye on the fight card and is already interested in fighting Umar Nurmagomedov in the future. Other than the main event, ‘Suga’ reviewed Marlon Vera’s performance against Figueiredo. The champion mentioned that he didn’t expect Vera to lose in such a manner.
His skill level is too high. So, I didn’t think Figgy was going to run through him but it was a close fight. It wasn’t like super impressive with Figgy.
Sean O’Malley via his YouTube channel
As the reigning champion, Sean O’Malley is the target for all the top bantamweights. Currently, he is scheduled to fight with Merab Dvalishvili at Noche UFC. However, given the division’s changing dynamics, it is not surprising that a new champion may emerge. In addition to Dvalishvili, Umar Nurmagomedov and Figueiredo have the potential to win the title.
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