"He started a little harder than usual" - Marlon Vera recaps his fight against Dominick Cruz, admits the former champion is "a hard guy to fight"

Marlon Vera lands a head kick against Dominick Cruz [image courtesy of @SandhuMMA/Twitter]

Marlon Vera recently sat down with Ariel Helwani of The MMA Hour to breakdown his knockout victory over Dominick Cruz. Vera, who finished Cruz with a fourth-round head kick, stated (starting at the 3:07:25 mark):

"I dropped him in the first round. I dropped him in the second one. I got taken down in the first one. He lands on top... I put a couple elbows on his head. He was definitely throwing numbers. He started a little harder than usual, but of course he starts hard. He wants to let me know [that] he's a former champ— he's a guy that's been there.

Vera went on to give his opponent praise, claiming he was a tough guy to fight:

"I just keep coming, I just keep trying to find him because he moves a lot. Hard guy to fight. He's not an easy guy to fight."

This should be no surprise, as Cruz is a two-time bantamweight champion who is widely viewed as one of the greatest bantamweights of all-time.

Watch Marlon Vera's full comments on The MMA Hour below:

Is Marlon Vera deserving of a title shot?

Marlon Vera is establishing himself as one of the best bantamweights in the UFC. With four straight victories — two by knockout and two by unanimous decision — Vera seems to be on a collision course with a title shot. With every fighter ahead of him in the bantamweight rankings set to fight over the next month, the title picture will soon become a lot clearer.

This week, I laid out what I thought every bantamweight would need in order to get the next title shot. Chito, Dom, Aldo, O'Malley, Yan, Cejudo, Merab ... Safe to say Chito nailed his ... espn.com/mma/story/_/id…

His victory over UFC legend Dominick Cruz was convincing enough that most would agree he is deserving of the title shot. Unfortunately for Vera, all he can do now is wait for the outcome of the remaining fights.

WATCH: Marlon Vera knocks out Dominick Cruz with a terrifying head kick. Looked like a baseball bat to the face! #UFCSanDiego https://t.co/cPrXnUqcDl

While he may not get a title shot, there are plenty of fights that would make sense for Marlon Vera. One fight that may intrigue fans of the sport would be a rematch with Sean O'Malley, who he defeated in 2020.

With O'Malley among the UFC's most popular fighters and Vera's name value rising, the fight makes a lot of sense. While Vera is deserving of a title shot, the bantamweight division may be too crowded for him to get one right away, so shooting for another victory over a top-ranked fighter would likely be the best avenue to guarantee him a chance at the belt.