A pair of ranked bantamweight veterans kicked off the UFC 292 main card in Boston, with Marlon Vera paired up against Pedro Munhoz in a key fight for the weight class.
“Chito” Vera was looking to bounce back from a loss to Cory Sandhagen that had snapped a four-fight win streak. Given his win off UFC 292 title challenger Sean O’Malley, a win over Munhoz, who returned to the win column against Chris Gutierrez earlier this year, could land Vera right back in contention.
It was Munhoz opening the action with a trio of kicks, low, to the midsection, and low again. Vera would have a chance off a Munhoz slip a little later, but came close to landing illegally. Munhoz, unharmed, made it up and pressed, firing a spinning back kick and getting his hands going; Vera meanwhile worked his jab.
It was Munhoz, however, piling on volume, particularly with kicks, through the first minute and a half. His heavy-kicking approach continued, with Vera looking to counter with his hands, mostly single strikes and short combos. Munhoz however began to fire his let hand, and showed a couple of stance switches, utilizing his right hand from the orthodox stance.
Vera continued to suffer from a lack of volume early in round two, though his accuracy may have made up for some of that. Munhoz kept working his kicks and left hand; Vera began answering back with low kicks of his own. Munhoz connected with a coupe of rights before fanning on a spinning back kick. Another close round, and it was still anyone’s fight heading into the third.
In round three, Munhoz turned up the heat, hurting Vera and briefly wobbling him. Vera held on, however, and began to light up Munhoz with his jab. Munhoz was soon bloodied, and Vera began to pull away. A body shot hurt Munhoz! Left hands connected. Munhoz was still pressing forward, but he was getting hit, and showing the damage. Coming up on the final minute, it felt as if Vera might have the fight in the bag.
Unanimous for @ChitoVeraUFC!
He takes the decision over Pedro Munhoz to open the #UFC292 Main Card pic.twitter.com/ihMdDqRavm
— UFC (@ufc) August 20, 2023
That’s how it played out — with two of three judges awarding all three rounds to Marlon Vera.
Official Result: Marlon Vera def. Pedro Munhoz by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
