In Photos: Marlon Vera rocks an Erling Haaland jersey in intense training with coach Jason Parillo ahead of UFC Abu Dhabi
Marlon Vera looks battle-ready as he prepares for this weekend's bantamweight showdown against Deiveson Figueiredo. 'Chito' is coming off a lopsided unanimous decision loss against Sean O'Malley in the UFC 299 title fight and appears motivated to climb his way back to the title shot.
Vera trains at the RVCA training center under famed MMA coach Jason Parillo's guidance. As he prepares to head into the UFC Abu Dhabi showdown, he shared glimpses of a recent training session, where he can be seen sporting an Erling Haaland jersey.
Check out the photos below:
Vera handed reigning bantamweight champion Sean O'Malley the only loss of his professional MMA career in 2020. However, the rematch was a completely different story as 'Suga' dominated the majority of the contest and avenged the defeat. To his credit, 'Chito' absorbed some damaging shots, but toughed it out till the end of the fifth round.
The No.4-ranked bantamweight will face a completely different challenge as he prepares to face the former flyweight champion Figueiredo at UFC Abu Dhabi on August 3. Since moving up to bantamweight, Figueiredo amassed a 2-0 record in the division. He is currently the No.6-ranked UFC bantamweight.
Marlon Vera is not worried about Deiveson Figueiredo's wrestling
Recently, Deiveson Figueiredo was seen training at former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov's gym in Abu Dhabi. Nurmagomedov is considered among the most dominant wrestlers in the sport's history and has helped several fighters, including the recently crowned welterweight champion Belal Muhammad, in their quest to reach the top.
In a recent interview with MMA Junkie, Marlon Vera reacted to Figueiredo training with Khabib and shared his thoughts on the same:
"I don't think you will learn wrestling in one week. Khabib has this stigma that he can be a good coach and everything. But good luck with that. Under Jason Parillo, I got really good training partners. There are excellent wrestlers and grapplers in my gym. We will meet in the center of the octagon and if he wants to wrestle, we can wrestle."
Check out Marlon Vera's comments below: