Marlon Vera is taking Deiveson Figueiredo very seriously.
Vera (21-9-1 MMA, 15-8 UFC) meets Figueiredo (23-3-1 MMA, 12-3-1 UFC) in a bantamweight bout at the UFC Fight Night card Aug. 3 at Etihad Arena on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi.
In order to rebound from his title loss to Sean O’Malley at UFC 299, “Chito” will have to halt the momentum of Figueiredo, who has looked in peak form since he moved to bantamweight. Vera views it as a must-win fight.
“I’m going to focus on Figueiredo. I know that’s a big challenge,” Vera said on “The MMA Hour.” “I’m taking this just as serious as I was taking the title fight (and) all the fights before. I’m going to get in there and let this motherf*cker know we’re on my time, and if I have to dig deep and f*cking go to the basement and pull all the demons, we’ll f*cking bring them.”
Figueiredo defeated Rob Font, and submitted former champion Cody Garbrandt at 135 pounds. Vera expects a stern challenge from the former UFC flyweight champion.
“I feel it’s a dangerous fight,” Vera said. “That’s a guy who’s been a world champion. He fought for the belt many times. He fought big names and he’s undefeated in my weight class. He beat a guy that I beat (Font). He beat a former champion Garbrandt. I know he’s a guy not to take lightly. I can say whatever I want. I can be mean. I can be a d*ck. But I know this is going to be a fight that I will have to fight.
“I mean, you know this about me. I’m not taking it easy. I’m not chilling right now. I’m going four-by-four. I really want to get in there and make this guy f*cking suffer and I just want to get on top with a win, and figure out how to get back to the title conversation. The best way to do that is go to Abu Dhabi and f*cking rip this man apart.”
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