When Vera made his first start of 2020 in May, he lost a highly controversial decision to Song Yadong, but in August, he secured the biggest win of his career, stopping Sean O’Malley in the first round. Then came Aldo, but Vera isn’t letting it take him from his path, no matter how much it hurt at the time.
“I was confident because I knew where I was going after the fight,” he said. “It was the perfect time to start talking about title contention, and yes, it broke my heart, but it didn’t break me. I’m stronger from that fight, and I won’t make those mistakes anymore. I changed things in my camp, and I’m just looking forward to taking somebody’s head next.”
The biggest change is that Jason Parillo is manning the Vera corner now after “Chito” had a long stint with Team Oyama. It was an amicable split, but one Vera believes was necessary.
“When that man talks to me, it goes to my brain and I can speak through my knuckles,” said Vera of his new head coach. “The connection here was too good to let it go.”
And if Vera is speaking through his knuckles, it’s safe to say that he’s not getting those 3am wakeup calls anymore.
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“I can literally throw the towel in right now, and just be like, ‘Yeah, I’m the first Ecuadorian in the UFC, I accomplished a couple things, I got bonuses, I won fights, I was on a winning streak.’ But I don’t think about those things; I always want more. I always want to get better, I always want to break your face. So now, on June 19th, I’m not gonna settle down, I’m not gonna go easy; I’m going to take everything from him, I’m gonna put him in a spot where I can get out of the situation I’m in right now and go after somebody in the Top 5. I know the level I’m at right now. I know how hungry I am, I know how hard I work and there’s nothing in this world that you can do to stop me. You can shoot me in the face with a machine gun and I’m still walking forward to take your head off.”
Guess that explains the “Fighting is Life” blurb on Vera’s Instagram bio.
“Everything in life requires fighting,” he said. “Nothing comes easy, nothing is given to you, you gotta go and earn it. That’s what I believe, that’s what I want to teach my children, and this pandemic showed a lot to people. You either grind your way and get it done, or you let this kill you, and it’s not gonna be easy to take this Ecuadorian down. It’s not gonna be easy.”
