UFC bantamweight contender Marlon Vera called for a fight against divisional rival Merab Dvalishvili after KOing Frankie Edgar at UFC 268.
Vera finished Edgar with a devastating front kick in the third round of their main card bantamweight bout at this past weekend’s UFC 268 pay-per-view event. It was an absolutely phenomenal victory by Vera, who will now be ranked in the top-10 after taking out Edgar in such an impressive fashion. Now that he’s in the top-10 of the UFC bantamweight division, Vera can now start calling out the top guys in the division. By beating Edgar, Vera now has the ability to call out some big names, and he has one in mind in particular in Dvalishvili, who Vera believes he has the style to potentially defeat.
Speaking to MMAFighting.com’s The MMA Hour in the days following his signature win at UFC 268, Vera officially made his callout to Dvalishvili and explained why he wants it.
“He’s a wrestler. I would be more scared if he was an Anthony Johnson type of f*cking guy. Anthony Johnson touch you, you don’t grow a beard. He’s a bad motherf*cker but I understand that. We all are,” Vera said.
As far as Vera goes, the only two opponents who make sense for him at this point are Dvalishvili or Cory Sandhagen. But with Sandhagen coming off of a five-round war just two weeks ago against Petr Yan, he likely needs time off to recover, so Dvalishvili seems like the right man for the job. But he would happily take Sandhagen if need be, too.
“Literally, how the situation is, there’s only two guys ahead or that are free, which are Merab [Dvalishvili] and [Cory] Sandhagen,” Vera said. “I can fight any of those two tomorrow.”
Do you want to see the UFC match up Marlon Vera against Merab Dvalishvili, and who do you think would win the fight if the promotion matches them up against each other?