“He’s been in a lot of wars. Chins don’t improve—they get worse over time,” Aiemann Zahabi said on Wednesday ahead of his UFC Fight Night clash in Vancouver against veteran Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera on October 18. The Canadian aims to extend his impressive six-fight winning streak, while the Ecuadorian bantamweight makes his long-awaited return after more than a year away from competition—following consecutive losses, including one to rival Sean O’Malley.

Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera, who famously knocked out O’Malley in the first round back in 2020, later fell short in their rematch in March 2024, losing via unanimous decision. He then suffered another setback in August against Deiveson Figueiredo. Now, more than a year later, as he steps back into the Octagon in what could be a pivotal fight for his career, ‘Chito’ addresses Zahabi’s remarks—before the two finally meet under the bright lights.

Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera wants to kill Sean O’Malley

Speaking to Shakiel Mahjouri recently, reacting to Aiemann Zahabi’s claim, Vera said, “I would say that I have probably been in one war ever. And that was probably the O’Malley fight that I took a lot of damage and [kept] coming forward, and I have no excuses.” He explained that he really didn’t fight “very smart,” instead, fought with “ego and I fought just thinking, ‘I’m gonna kill this guy,’ which I [paid] the price [for].” 

He added, “Yes, I have a lot of miles, but I don’t have that much. I’m a person [who] really [focuses] on health. I know for a fact my brain is healthy… Also, the way I eat and… live my life is what helped me to be in hard fights. No drinking, no nightlife. I don’t really do drugs, and I’m a healthy person.” This prompted Mahjouri to press Vera about his statement on the Sean O’Malley rematch, asking how he plans to stop himself from making the same mistake again. 

“We really didn’t like each other,” Vera said about O’Malley. “I fought with my d—k. And I didn’t [fight] as smart at all. My whole thought process was, ‘I want to kill this guy. I want to hurt him. I want to step on his throat and fu—ing throw a rock in his face.’” Confessing that’s not the right approach to a fight, Vera claimed during the interview, “I learned from it. And I paid the price of the biggest opportunity of my life, kind of blew it because I [had] a good camp.” 

He felt that he could have used the various weapons in his arsenal more, instead of “just walking forward, just trying to land one punch.” Whether Vera has fixed the issues or not will be revealed on fight night, but before that, he has been training hard to stop his losing streak.

‘Chito’ Vera promises to sprint through Aiemann Zahabi 

After his 14-month layoff from fighting, the former UFC bantamweight title challenger is confident about making a statement at UFC Vancouver. He claims his time away from the Octagon has helped him rebuild both mentally and physically. “I could make excuses and blame everybody, but when it comes down to it, I had to sit down and talk about it. I really feel like I was burned out,” Vera admitted.

“I mean, I don’t drink, I don’t party, I don’t sniff c—ne, so what else can I do? Train all day, every day.” Vera has long been known for his slow starts to his fights, but he plans to switch things up, as he ditched his long-distance runs in favor of explosive sprints. “We switched the long-distance running to sprints twice a week and saw changes,” he said. “I was a little quicker in the first round… we’re only fighting 15-minutes, so I thought that was a good change.”

Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera appears to have used his time on the sidelines wisely. However, does that mean he can put an end to Zahabi’s rapid ascent in the UFC? What are your predictions for the upcoming fight?