“I’m good right now, I feel great, I’m in shape, I’m ready to go and I’m learning and growing, but I haven’t become a diamond yet,” he said. “I’m partially there. I’m becoming better every day, I’m training better, I’m just trying to get better and stay healthy because the most important part for an athlete and a fighter is staying healthy. If you’re not healthy, you’re in trouble. So I make sure I take care of my brain, my diet is good and I’m motivated and happy. I’m in good spirits, so I’m ready to put on another performance and take this guy out.”
If he does leave Florida with his sixth straight win, that will likely mean that his ranking goes up and he’ll get an even bigger fight the next time out. That’s all fine with “Chito,” but he’s not letting his ranking get to his head, not now, not ever.
“Every fight in the UFC is hard,” he said. “People don’t understand that. The number next to you doesn’t mean anything; at the end of the day, you get clipped on the chin, you’re going down. I got in the UFC because I want to fight, because I want to scrap, because I want to put on a show. Now I want to do the same thing, but I’m hungrier than before because I want to do it against the big names. I want to do it against the people who will get me to a title shot.”
It’s all about goal setting, and the ultimate one for the kid from Ecuador downloading fight videos as a teenager is to be a world champion. If that doesn’t get him out of bed in the morning, nothing will. And when Vera does rise from a good night’s sleep in his new home, it’s with a smile on his face and a determination to make those dreams a reality.
“There’s something I want to tell people,” he said. “You never take your foot off the gas. A lot of people, they try hard, things don’t go well and they try something else. I was the opposite. Every morning I wake up and this is something you can’t teach people – you either have it or you don’t; when I wake up, it’s with a smile on my face and a f**king let’s go. Every morning, it’s go forward, go hard. Be happy, take care of yours, and get it done.
“Every morning, it’s a mission.”
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