"Father Time is truly undefeated" - Aljamain Sterling, Derek Brunson and fans react to Marlon Vera finishing Dominick Cruz with a brutal head kick

Fans and fighters react to Dominick Cruz vs. Chito Vera [Photo credit: @ufc on Twitter]

Fans and fighters alike took to social media to share their reaction to the main event battle between Dominick Cruz and Marlon Vera.

In what turned out to be a passing-of-the-torch moment, Vera came back from being down by three rounds to secure the knockout in round four. The Ecuadorian caught 'The Dominator' with a thunderous left kick to the head, flattening the former UFC bantamweight champ.

'Chito' now has four consecutive wins on his resume and is expected to enter the title conversation. Cruz, on the flip side, had his two-fight winning streak snapped. Check out the best comments below.

UFC fans and fighters react to wild finish of Dominick Cruz vs. Marlon Vera

Although Dominick Cruz performed extremely well in the early goings, reigning bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling believes Father Time has finally caught up to Cruz. 'Funk Master' also pointed out that Cruz's chin has long been compromised.

"Father Time is truly undefeated," Sterling wrote. "I said before this fight, that it may be the passing of the guards. Chito can still take a shot, Cruz, not so much. It’s the circle of life in this game. Chito caught him at the right time in both their careers. Great win!"

Father Time is truly undefeated. I said before this fight, that it may be the passing of the guards. Chito can still take a shot, Cruz, not so much. It’s the circle of life in this game. Chito caught him at the right time in both their careers. Great win! #UFCSanDiego

Yea, I can’t believe how ppl are ignoring this fact. That chin was long gone. He looked good but we all know you need to be able to take what you can dish out. Chito landed shots that most bantamweights could take, OUTSIDE of that headkick. That was nasty! twitter.com/kard1ac/status…

Welterweight contender Belal Muhammad thought Dominick Cruz's performance was still tremendous, given his age. However, he added that Marlon Vera's power was just too much for the veteran to overcome.

Cruz was looking like his old self too chito is just so powerful

Chito’s the man

Meanwhile, Derek Brunson pointed out that Marlon Vera is still relatively young for everything he's accomplished so far. The Ecuadorian has now fought three former UFC champions in Cruz, Frankie Edgar, and Jose Aldo, beating two of them. As far as Brunson is concerned, the best is yet to come for 'Chito'.

Chito Vera isn’t even 30 yet ! 🔥He should have several good years ahead for himself ! #UFCSanDiego

Up-and-coming bantamweight Adrian Yanez, on the other hand, admitted that he felt bad seeing Cruz get KO'd. His sentiments were echoed by former The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) contestant Joe Giannetti, who said he hated seeing Cruz do so well only to be taken out in a violent fashion.

That was brutal #UFC

Tough watching Cruz go out like that..

Damnnn, love chito, but hate to see Cruz doing so well just to lose🥲 think the age gap is just too much even though technique wise Cruz is still up there with the best of the best #ufcsandiego

"That was brutal," Yanez wrote. "Tough watching Cruz go out like that..."

Brian Kelleher, Fabio Cherant, Walt Harris, Billy Quarantillo, Tanner Boser, and some fans also took to Twitter to chime in with their thoughts.

Cruz winning , fighting the perfect fight and just couldn’t make mistake with chito. Chito can lose the whole fight but find that kill shot at any moment lately. Always dangerous and very hard to hurt

Damn happy for chito but damn hate to see that much respect to both guys

Lights out!!!! Great win for Chito Vera. #UFCSanDiego

Vera has been on another level, 135 division is so exciting rn 🔥🔥 #UFCSanDiego

Yesssssssssss!!!!! Give my bro his shot now! #TheDarkside twitter.com/teamiridiumisa…

This sport is brutal and I love it and hate it at the same time lol #UFCSanDiego twitter.com/ufc/status/155…

Alright that settles it, Chito has done enough to earn a rematch with Sean O’Malley