Ecuador’s Marlon Vera is 6-1 his last seven, ranked #15 in the bantamweight division, and is coming off a TKO win over Sean O’Malley at UFC 252 in August. At UFC on ESPN+ 42 on Saturday, he fights former featherweight champion Jose Aldo, who is coming off a loss to Petr Yan for the then vacant bantamweight belt. At Thursday’s media day, he said a win should earn him a title shot.
“Yeah, 100 percent – that’s the idea of asking for one of these fights,” said Vera to Danny Segura for MMA Junkie in Spanish. “A victory over someone like him, it puts me directly in line to fight for the belt.