LOS ANGELES – Marlon Vera faces a lot of pressure at UFC 331.
Former title challenger Vera (23-12-1 MMA, 15-11 UFC) will look to snap a four-fight losing skid when he takes on Charles Jourdain (18-8-1 MMA, 9-7-1 UFC) on Saturday's prelims at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles (Paramount+).
"Chito" has changed camps in order to try and turn things around.
"I'm pretty excited. I'm feeling ready," Vera told MMA Junkie and other reporters during Wednesday's media day. "My body is healthy and more than anything, all these changes that I have done, it's not like I'm going to learn 30 more techniques, or I'm going to learn this. There's not really secrets in the game, right? But what I definitely did was bring back weapons that I used to use in the past,
like bring more of my kickboxing, not just heavy pressure with big hands. At the end of the day, I was very successful with what I was doing in the past.
"That's why I have never blamed, and I never will blame a coach or a training partner for my failure. I always, as a man, and as a man that works as a team, when I win, we all win. When I lose, we all lose. So for me, it was just more about OK, I tried really hard to make this work, now I'm falling short. Myself, I'm falling short. So what I can do now to improve, to get out of this hole, and I can only try, right? So, I bring back old coaches, I joined forces with the Rosas, and Saturday night is the ultimate test. Whatever I did, whatever I say, doesn't matter. On fight night, I will see myself what I got."
Vera's losses have all been competitive, but the 33-year-old admits more output could have swayed the judges in his favor.
"Sometimes I'm watching, and I'm like, 'F*ck, throw, like do something,'" Vera said. "But my feet were heavy in the ground, I was trying to land, and some of those fights arguably I'm like, they could go my way. I mean, I think if some of those fights would have been my decision, I don't think no one would be complaining about it. But I mean, I feel like I've been in that spot already, right? Happened with Song Yadong.
"It has happened. Like I have fights like that, and I'm like, I don't see myself losing, but when you lose, you lose, right? A few weeks later, no one will remember exactly what they really said. The record said something else, and I'm not the guy that I complain too much about things. If they give it to the other guy, and it was for me, I mean, it's still for the other guy. So, I need to do more, do better, and I can only push myself to try better."
Jourdain showed Vera respect and acknowledged that his losses were all close fights. The Canadian is on a three-fight winning streak and has a high finish rate, which makes him a dangerous opponent for Vera.
"He's a good fighter," Vera said of Jourdain. "He fights pretty good in the stand up. He has a good ground. I don't think in my whole career I had a fight that is like, 'Oh, this fight is good for you. This is like a warm-up fight.' Since the early beginnings, I've been thrown to the wolves, and it's just how life works, right? I come from a small country.
"I didn't come as the guy that they were trying to hype up because we know how the business works. But at the end of the day, I'm a hard worker, and I'm a guy that – we're still humans, right? If you fight hard enough, someone's going to break, and I know I have the durability, and I have the heart. ... And I'm just blessed with a great career, and I'm happy to be here once again."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: For Marlon Vera, UFC 331 is the 'ultimate test' to snap skid
