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That’s the message from Marlon Vera after a disappointing performance against Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
In his first fight back after falling to UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley in lopsided fashion at UFC 299 back in March, the always tough “Chito” suffered a second straight loss after dropping a unanimous decision to Figueiredo. While he had his moments in the fight, Vera started slow and just never put together the kind of offensive volume needed to beat the former flyweight champion.
Following the fight, Vera released a statement on Instagram admitting that he may have been a little too anxious to get back in the cage again without giving himself the proper time to recover from his five-round war against O’Malley just five months ago.
“I fail at myself last night,” Vera wrote. “I thought I was ready. I felt good in the gym but at the end maybe I come back too quick after a hard title fight. Life doesn’t end here I still dream about big things I just need time to let go and reset.”
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Marlon Chito Vera (@chitoveraufc)
During the fight, the UFC broadcast team — which included UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier and Paul Felder — noted that Vera remarked to them about getting out of the gates faster than usual because he only had three rounds to work.
In the past, Vera has often started somewhat sluggishly in the opening round but shown an ability to get stronger as the fight moves forward. That’s worked out for him in the past, most notably with a fourth-round knockout of former UFC champion Dominick Cruz as well as a stunning third-round finish of UFC Hall of Famer Frankie Edgar in 2021.
This time around, Vera just never quite kicked into second gear.
The former UFC flyweight contender is desperately trying to mend fences with management after they announced they weren’t going to offer him a new contract.
Muhammad Mokaev is in a very strange place right now, career-wise. The 24 year old flyweight is 13-0 and has the potential to be a future champion. But it won’t be with the UFC, because they decided not to re-sign him after he fought out his contract at UFC 304.
Not only did they let him go, they buried him on the way out. Mokaev previously claimed UFC matchmakers had complained to him about his wrestling-heavy fighting style. But UFC CEO Dana White stated “It’s a lot more than just that,” when announcing Mokaev’s departure.
“The matchmakers aren’t big fans of his for many different reasons,” he said.
⚡️Muhammad Mokaev asked Hunter Campbell to fight for free in his next fight. Also, he saying he learnt his lesson and wants come back to the UFC.
@MMAJunkie ▫️ pic.twitter.com/knOjdwuQ24
— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) August 3, 2024
Mokaev caused a big stir during UFC 304 fight week after he sucker-punched his opponent Manel Kape at the fighter hotel. The two continued to nearly brawl at every opportunity for the next few days … only to have a terrible fight in the cage.
Was that the last straw for UFC management? Mokaev seems to think so. In a new interview with MMA Junkie he said he’d offered to fight for free to make amends.
“I said to Hunter Campbell, whatever I’ve done at the hotel, I’m ready to pay for that and fight my next fight in the UFC for free,” he said. “Whatever trouble I make, I think it’s unprofessional, but it’s something that was in my heart for a long time – I had to get rid of it. And I think I’ve taken a big lesson. I want to come back to UFC and hopefully I will be back.”
There were rumors that the real source of strife with Mokaev stemmed from him fielding offers from PFL. Mokaev denied any talks and suggested someone was passing false information to White.
Abu Dhabi pic.twitter.com/aE3G4SNIZl
— Muhammad Mokaev (@muhammadmokaev) August 4, 2024
“I think between Dana there’s been a misunderstanding,” he said. “I don’t know where he got this PFL talks … I think someone does something behind my back, it’s not going to come out of nowhere with PFL.
“I don’t even see competition between the PFL and UFC,” Mokaev added. “The UFC is the best organization in the world, and I never spoke to the PFL. They don’t even have a flyweight [division], so I don’t understand. Even at the post-fight interview, I asked for a new contract because I want to fight the best in the world.”
Mokaev was in Abu Dhabi to watch UFC on ABC: Sandhagen vs. Nurmagomedov, but there’s no hint that he’s managed to soften the UFC’s clearly negative opinion of him. That leaves him with few good options, which may be why he’s working so hard to make peace with his former promoter.
Jasmine Jasudavicius is looking for fighters with “low numbers” next to their names as she climbs the UFC flyweight ladder, which would include Erin Blanchfield.
Jasudavicius recently defeated Fatima Kline at UFC Denver, who coincidentally enough, is Blanchfield’s teammate. With Jasudavicius originally set to face a top-10 opponent before Kline subbed in on short notice for her octagon debut, she believes Blanchfield would check off all the boxes.
“I like it,” Jasudavicius said on The MMA Hour. “I think it’s possible. I mean, why not? Her team already studied to fight me, so let’s just set it up.”
Blanchfield recently suffered her first octagon defeat, losing a lopsided unanimous decision to Manon Fiorot in the main event of UFC Atlantic City in March. Jasudavicius said she already had her initial booking with Viviane Araujo at the time of that fight, so she knows she watched Blanchfield’s losing performance, she just doesn’t have a strong memory of it.
“I remember watching the fight, but when I’ve got a fight booked, I kind of don’t pay attention to anything else,” Jasudavicius said. “Now that I’m free, out of camp, I can catch up on everything, see who I’m going to call out next.
“She’s obviously a good option. I remember her being on the radar before, so we’ll see what Mick [Maynard] has in store for me.”
Jasudavicius is currently ranked No. 14 in UFC’s flyweight rankings, and Blanchfield would be a great opportunity to get to the top five. Whether it’s Blanchfield or another ranked fighter, the Canadian veteran is ready for the phone to ring for whatever comes her way.
“I heard there’s a card coming to Canada in November, that would be awesome,” Jasudavicius said. “Literally, I didn’t take any damage — got a little black eye, a scratch — but I can turn around and I can fight again next month, or next week. So we’ll kind of see. I’ll take a couple of days and we’ll see what the team says, but I don’t know. I’m ready to jump on opportunities.”
MMA News has you covered with this week’s UFC matchmaking bulletin, featuring all the additions to the upcoming cards.
With UFC events being held most weekends, Mick Maynard and Sean Shelby have their matchmaking work cut out if they’re to fill them, meaning new bouts are confirmed each and every week.
In recent days, a few notable fights were made official by the UFC or reported by reputable sources. For more information on those matchups, check out the links below:
José Aldo vs. Mario Bautista – UFC 307 (October 5)
Kayla Harrison vs. Ketlen Vieira – UFC 307 (October 5)
Chris Curtis vs. Kevin Holland – UFC 307 (October 5)
Carla Esparza vs. Tecia Pennington – UFC 307 (October 5)
Despite a back-and-forth war that ultimately won Fight of the Night at UFC 303, the 15-year veteran just didn’t feel like he had the performance he wanted against Cub Swanson. When it was over, the judges ultimately scored the fight as a split decision, with Fili edging out the win.
While there were some good moments for Swanson in the fight, Fili still feels he did more than enough to secure the victory, even as he wallowed in disappointment for how he performed that night.
“I’m really happy with the win,” Fili told recently The MMA Hour. “I believe I won the fight. I actually went back and watched the fight and it was less close than I think people were saying. It was less close than I even felt, and when I got done with the fight, I felt confident that I won the fight.
“I landed the cleaner shots. I dictated the pace of the fight. I controlled range even though he was closing in. I’m dealing with a crafty, tricky, awkward dangerous veteran and I’m controlling every minute of the fight. I know I did enough to win the fight, but I didn’t perform to the level that I wanted to perform at.”
Regardless of the win, Fili admits he was down in the dumps initially, but his coaches and even UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby told him he was crazy to feel bad about that fight.
Fili says he’ll always express his true emotions after a fight, and in that moment, he was really displeased with his showing against Swanson.
“I was incredibly unhappy,” Fili said. “This is the thing — a lot of people might not come out and admit this, but I can’t fake the funk. If you like me, I appreciate it, and if you don’t like me, I understand, there’s plenty of things not to like. F*ck you, but I get it. But you’re always going to get me. It’s always going to be me. I can’t fake the funk. I can’t come out there and be like, ‘I’m the f*cking man.’ The truth is if I feel like that after a fight, where I feel like I’m the best ‘45er in the world — because I do believe that — if I feel that way after the fight, I’ll say it.
“But if I feel after the fight that I didn’t perform to the best of my ability, I’ll say that too. I just keep it real. I’m always going to give people the authentic version of myself. That’s how I felt. I got done with my fight and all my coaches are like, ‘What the f*ck is wrong with you?’ I’m just not happy with myself.”
It wasn’t until he returned home that Fili forced himself to watch the fight to assess his performance after letting his emotions cool off for a couple of days.
That’s when he was finally able to gain a new perspective on the fight.
“I was f*cking dreading watching,” Fili said. “I didn’t want to watch it. My girlfriend Melissa was like, ‘Put the fight on,’ and I was like, ‘I would really rather sit here and watch Bob’s Burgers and each chips and salsa and f*cking Mochi and relax and not watch this.’
“Shout out to my girlfriend Melissa, she goes, ‘Put the f*cking fight on and watch it.’ So I put the fight on and watched it, and halfway through the second [round], I look at her and I’m like, ‘Not that bad! We did alright. Cub is f*cking hard to fight.’
Because he has such high expectations every time he completes, Fili can’t reconcile with a less than stellar night at the office, which is how he felt once UFC 303 was done.
A little bit of distance and perspective from the fight helped, but Fili still knows he’s capable of so much more.
“I wanted a dominant win,” Fili said. “I did enough to win and I think the judges got it right. But I wasn’t happy with myself after the fight. I’m my own hardest critic. I was in my head after the fight. I was really frustrated with myself. I was really disappointed. I felt a little ashamed. Just being candid, I felt ashamed. I felt I had let myself down a bit with my performance.
“Now that gone back and watched the fight twice, I’m actually pretty happy with the performance but in the moment, I was really down on myself.”
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