Stream UFC 299 on ESPN+ https://plus.espn.com/ufc/ppv ESPN MMA’s Brett Okamoto sits down with Marlon Vera at his home as …
Shido Vera going to fight Shan O Al for the Bantam way Championship UFC 299 in Miami um obviously we’re going to talk about the fight but you know sometimes we’re sitting here and we’re talking a little bit as the cameras get set up and you said something that was kind of interesting we were talking about your tattoos first of all that you don’t have much space left really so you got to be pretty selective about what what you go with super selective and no more like I mean honestly it make you feel good you can do little things to around you can do I’ve been doing icted too lately but I have any regret as as now so I’ve been I’ve been very good with it and I thought that maybe one thing that you and Sean could have seen eye to eye on is tattoos because he’s he obviously is a big tattoo guy as well right but then I asked you well you still have your face you have not touched your face but you will not do the face tattoos like Sean has yeah I don’t I mean if we really put in perspective he have trash tattoos I was going to ask you if to they’re they’re they’re whatever it mean I don’t know I don’t care but if you just if you see playing the tattoo he got I mean he really in my opinion and in the tattoo world I’ve been I’ve been getting tattooed by the best in the world like not just big names as as today social media but legends of the game so like when I see tattoos like that most Fighters have like tattoos like they they used to go to a you you us don’t go to any tattoo shop and get too it don’t work like that but they don’t know they just want to look cool online or whatever just because The Fighter by but sometimes I see tattoos I’m like wow that’s bad like so I don’t I don’t want this tattoo this interview to be all about tattoos but give me some of the worst ones in the UFC and then give me some of the best ones in the UFC in your opinion um I mean as as today um his name scar my head they Walter with thick good wrestler he beat Michael K Oh sha Brady sea Brady got good traditional tattoos they’re really loud they’re they’re well done he have good tattoos bov went from having a small tattoo in his back to just overnight did a crazy mask that mask is is is well is done well I’m sure if few guys will escape my head but if you go with ugly tattoos I me I don’t I just don’t see good pieces out there yeah have you seen Dan hooker go from like none to his whole body yeah I mean he’s a two done well it’s not my style but is they they look done well even um oliva’s bag is done well yeah I wouldn’t again it’s not what even if we both have black and gray bags I would have put more thing to just one big face but that’s done well like some guys have well done tattoos but most most of the guys have some really awful art but I guess what you don’t know you don’t know that’s like when you start training you just walk and you go to any grappling school that me is going to be good school mhm so um when I when I was younger I was a I was a big fan of tattoos so I did my research and I was just looking around and when I moved to the US I kind of already knew that this tattoo artist exceed and I one day eventually would like to get to by then yeah and here we are last question just cuz I’m very curious how much money do you think you’ve spent on tattoos in your life I am very expensive from as you can see I mean I’ve been tattooed by the best of the best I’ve been tattooed by Mr cartoon Franco Bovi bur CRA Stevie wey uh Sean topper I been talk about really great artists and they’re not cheap mhm because I’m not ni they take care of me they they they but it’s still not tattoos are not cheap and they shouldn’t because they’re if they’re that good they got a word something and these guys are like big names so yeah it’s a two chip and but I love them I I love the way they look and I will keep getting more I mean you you’re you’re pretty expensive just with the ink on your body and then it’s just like uh I mean we’re sitting in this house and I wish people could to see this house like I’ve been talking about how cool your house is you just moved in here and it kind of makes me wonder like uh when when life is so good cuz it just seems like life is good you’re comfortable you’re happy you know like is it better for a fighter to have a really comfortable life or is it better when you’re fighting and clawing for like every inch of your life cuz you’ve experienced both like what makes you think what makes you more dangerous I mean you have to do both you have to work so hard and be so miserable because you’re so obsessed with getting somewhere but when you get somewhere which I already get there you got to find ways to don’t be comfy again that’s why if we talk about my house my house is is beautiful me and my wife when we saw this place we were like I don’t care how many offers are we want this house I want to buy this house I pretty much so the house me and my wife we bought it a little bit up and with together each fight we will do things get it better and once we get it beautiful and we couldn’t do more to get it better we found this place and when we were like wow I’m going to let my first love go but talking about what you just say don’t stay comfy I was really comfy my in my old house it was fully redone it was beautiful low mortgage payment refi I was nice and conf and I’m a gambler and if we talk about rolling the dice I’m that guy mhm we found this place we fell in love with this place and it was more everything more work could be way more expensive all the fix of this will be even more because is better it’s bigger we got all we need and some people advise me like you don’t need to do that you’re very comfy but going back to that you can’t get com in life you always got to be looking forward to something you always got to be looking forward to improve get better figure it out how to invest your money where to go and I mean I have that I I am the face of the Immigrant mentality I didn’t came to this country to just be another one I came here to do big things to do great and everything I do is for the benefit of my family everything I do is to make sure they’re set up but at the same time they have to know how hard was for me and for my wife to get here how much we sacrifice to be here and that’s one thing I feel a lot of SPO kids don’t get parents is so much for you why you up so bad MH it’s probally someone didn’t explain you since early how much is how how how hard was to get that nothing was easy money don’t come out of trees I mean you can drive all the cars in the world that cost you something you can have everything in life that cost you everything half a price and sometimes kids have to know that nothing just come by you don’t have to be treat them like this is a military but you got to let them know you got to make effort in life to get things when you as like as you’re going into this this first world championship fight of your career of your life um like are you do you think about um the doubt like in when you were in Ecuador and you would tell people like I’ve heard you tell that story and I know that it means a lot to you like I’m I’m going to be in the UFC someday and it’s like no one from Ecuador has ever been there it’s like you’re not going to be there you know do you think about are you the kind of person that thinks about that Stu a lot as you go to into the title fight yeah I I mean every every time I like to every time things are getting a little hard or seems that they’re further away you just got to think about you five years ago how far it looked how dark it looked the light in that tunnel you don’t see nothing but if you keep going if you keep plugging away and you keep trying and you keep trying to find a way eventually you’re going to get there the problem with most people they quit right before that finish Lan could be there but it’s invisible you just got to keep going in order to get there and a lot of people get tired to swim and they they gave up and they drown I me like at the end of the day we are going to go and die why not give our best chance at this why don’t go as far as we can I mean why not and just don’t stop the moment you stop you stay behind mhm it’s a life is a marathon with bump and bruises and bad days and darker days but we all feel the same best in the world feel like that nobody in the world feels like that we all go into into that up and down it’s just how you handle it and how you make you figure out how to keep going forward has it felt at all different and guys get this question all the time when they’re going into a big fight but has it felt different as you prepare for this one to just like everything you’ve done leading up to this has been like winning a world championship in Miami a UFC 299 so like has has that kind of is that in your mind as you’re getting ready for it I mean just knowing the fact that is for the title it does make it different it does make make it like it’s pressure added it’s it’s everything more added it’s everything’s more magnified everything is more like is just bigger and I will say this time to time to time coach say it best is how you handle things leading up to that because before the title fight everybody want to talk to you everybody want to be your friend everybody want to sponsor you but is that going to be there forever that’s not going to be there forever for ever is going to be your real Circle your real family your closest friends besides that you got to still focusing on what’s in front of you a lot of people once they get this type of attention they stay under the cloud you got to stay away from the cloud and I keep plugging away keep grinding keep doing what got you there which was winning and how you win by working hard by staying disciplined sometimes the light hurt people and I do believe I do a great job on staying on my lane and keep doing my thing because at the end of the day that’s how you keep getting things that’s how you keep growing and that’s about it I know the title itself is what means the most to you but like if you could have created any kind of scenario like whatever it was like maybe Dominick Cruz had been like running the division and you had beat him like you would been the guy to beat Dominic Cruz or you know if Aldo would have won the title 135 and been holding it or Yan and like Russia or or do you like like how do you feel about just the circumstances of it sha Ali in Miami like is is that how you would have drawn it up does it matter like what do you think of the circumstances I don’t think I could imagine my first title fight to be Miami that close from home I mean that’s going to feel a lot like Ecuador it’s going to be a lot of ecuadorians there it’s going to be loud it’s going to be it’s going to be big and I’ll be prepared for that I’ve heard you see say in other interviews that the difference in this rematch is going to going to be well not even the difference like the the outcome will be determined by once the fight really gets into a fight that he won’t want to be there like he he he can’t handle like the fight that you’re going to bring to him like what do I get that right is that is that what you’re saying I I’m sure his confidence is going to be way higher just because he just beat alamin and he’s coming of a big win and he won the tile right but if you have enough Common Sense Allman great fighter overall but the guy cannot strike if he goes into a kickboxing match the guy cannot strike it’s all awkward it’s all weird to get to his shot and make you work from there and eventually get to a good position but if you go punch for punch he can fight and we all know that the way he lost the fight was the same way he get he get a stop against Moray this not a lucky shot he just he just he’s not seeing nothing he just close his eyes and swing and eventually get to a leg and then he can climb up I can fight I can be in front of you I can read you I can take a punch and I can punch just as hard as you I know how strong I am I know how good I am and to be honest I just feel that I’m going to make him quit I feel I’m going to break him and just give him a reason to go home and what are you basing that on you basing that on something in him or you just basing that on you that you will give him that reason or why do you think he’ll quit that’s on me I work so hard to get to where I am today that I’m not going to get in there and just kind of like Let It Go a lot of Fighters sometimes they’re ready but mentally they let lose they’re like okay I can live another day I don’t want to live another day if I’m if I’m not going to give everything from me and winning success is never guaranteed all I don’t care who you are I don’t care what you say chances that something doesn’t go your way they’re high and you got to be alert and aware of that and that’s how you also win knowing that things can be farther or harder for you because you we just never know one punch one kick when anything can change how things go but that’s when I know I can dig deep I can bite down and say bring it what impact do you think that that you guys have fought before is there any impact on the second fight does it matter I try to think that doesn’t matter new opponent new energy just similar phase because time time passes and people change and everything changes so I’m for any reason I thinking this can be easy for any reason I’m thinking I’m going to get it quick I’m always expecting the wors on my last 30 fights I have never think oh it’s going to be easy tonight I put all the pressure on my shoulders I see the worst scenarios and I say let’s see what happen let’s go and let’s go hard wait what do you think the fight is going to look like in terms of um and I asked you this when we were um watching a little bit of film before but that Cheeto starts slow like do you think it’s going to be like a feel out fight or do you think that because you’ve already kind of been in there there will be some familiarity already and what do you think of like cuz everyone’s going to be saying that I bet the commentators like right when the fight starts are going to like Cheeto start slow you know like that’s just part of your narrative now like is that going to you think how will this fight start do you think uh it’s going to start as a fight we will fight I mean I’m not very good at reading comments or paying attention to the public opinion I get it I heard it because I watch my fight sometimes just to get uh a little more knowledge on what I can do or what should I shouldn’t do but I mean that’s that’s just another opinion that’s literally just an opinion oh he’s too slow he’s too fast or he’s start crazy everybody will tell you you should do something and everybody was say dud sometimes I need you to do something I’m like you do it mhm go in there and do it I don’t see other fighter tell me like dude you’re too slow it’s just public opinion and honestly I don’t care I mean I can change my style or or go crazy I mean talking about changing the style audio could be excus could be true he was saying always trying to be entertainment that’s why I felt like that I don’t give a who’s watching I’m trying to win myself I want to do it for my family I want to do it for my own self for my ego because I want to be a world champion at the end of the day I live for a family and I want to give them the best and being a world champion will be part of that so I want to fight a way I fight mm and I’m ready to fight and your kids are F 58 right 58 and 12 so they are definitely old enough to know what’s going on like sometimes you have these fighters who like yeah I’m going to bring my son to the fight and it’s like an infant you know yeah no they they know they know what’s going on they know I mean they they know for a while now from my last few fights they understand and and I try to explain them sometimes they ask me like one time my son asked me are you scared when you fight and I said 100% you’re scared you’re worried you’re nervous and I told him I told him liter War for war how I feel mhm and I feel he respect me for that or or eventually one day he will really understand it and be like wow because how many people a lot of D will Bea no it’s fine it’s just a fight kind of like to don’t get the kid worried I mean they’re going to be there watching live they got they have to understand a little bit how I feel and they’re great kids because they know when I have a fight I’m eating less I’m training harder I got pressure and they kind of like respect that too like they don’t don’t get too crazy with me sometimes when can we do this I’m like can you can can can you guys let me rest for 45 minutes an hour and then we do it they’re cool MH so I mean that’s all I can ask for being being a little better version than I was as a kid and eventually become a better version than I am today are they like nervous like oh my like this is such a big fight or they care more about like you know what’s going on I mean I’m sure they care about my health if something bad happened uh but I don’t know I’m I mean the energy of Friday it’s really dark and dense and I’m sure my mom my wife everybody around me are super nervous they got they they will pick up on that energy and they will get nervous so I’m sure they’re scared too but I mean that’s what I work hard just to not let them down and at the end of the day like I said before success is never guaranteed in anything in the world mhm but I like to put myself on the line and I will bet on myself all the time just a couple more so you have dark energy on a fight day like I mean different guys have different kind of temperaments like where does your mind go on the day of a fight like and where do you think it’ll be in Miami I mean you have to first figure it out how to use those nerves and fit from them and kind of like understand your guts you’re going to feel a lot in your GS on Friday but eventually but eventually you you like you know you get youing amping and you like let’s go let’s go but when I say dark end is because it’s dense I mean you’re not going to play a game you’re not going to hit the ball you’re going to get in a fast fight and I’m not taking nothing away from any other sport I’m sure when you’re in the basketball live on the big arena that hole gets smaller mhm but at the end of the day you’re not getting Punch or kick in the face mm you’re getting elbow in the face you know it’s a lot going on so I make sure that day I just condense all my energy and I make sure I let all go mhm uh last thing and I like asking guys this for some reason but how do you think you’ll react are you going to be you going to cry you win a world championship like how like such a long journey man how what do you think you’ll do I feel having the Bell around my waist and just having my family in front of me my team next to me I think I feel like 100% would to cry I mean there’s no way you don’t I mean unless you don’t give a I do give becoming a world champion is sounds epic sounds impossible and I really want to become one mhm can you remember when do you think it was the first time you’re like I’m I’m going to be a UFC champion like I’m going to have that belt when was like the first time you thought it on my first winner streak in the UFC I felt like when I when I beat uh I fought I fought the Chinese guy in Australia D I fought then I beat Brad P by head kick then I beat Keller that he was coming as a prospect kind of he came in in hot in the UFC his UFC debut he beat number 15 in the world blah blah blah and then might I finished two out of those three guys and I was like I’m going to be a world champion because before that he was just figured out how win a fight so you can have enough money to stay in the states and at the beginning you can say things but I was really at the beginning trying just to have enough cash to make it another month in the US that was really it then when you get in a win stre you’re like okay I really can do something with this and and I’m here now I mean I’m a few weeks ago to make that dream a reality yeah and I’m sorry man I keep thinking of these questions cuz I’m just get curious about it but do you think this will be the final one do you do you look at Sean and think like maybe he could be like a long-term rivalry like maybe we could have a great long rivalry like Combat Sports rivalry when you think about those and like boxing history and everything else MMA history of course like do you think he could be that guy for you or do you think the story ends here with him I don’t care I will fight him 10 more times or I will fight him never again I’m not I haven’t I’m not a piggy I’m not piggy I’ve just whoever is in front of me that person needs to get her I’m not really like expecting all these movies I I don’t care I know there’s great uh adversaries in there DC and J Jones I mean there’s so many but gar de show MH GP with huge or Mater but I don’t care I mean if we fight again we fight again M all that Mar is 299 March 9 that’s all that Mars today for me oh thank you for having us any brother thank you that’s a lot