Boston, MA — Following a hard-fought victory over Pedro Munhoz at UFC 292, Chito Vera could not sit down.
Not out of excitement, mind you. However backstage at the TD Garden, his leg a little worse for the wear after the fight, Vera (21-8-1) bounced from one foot to the other. “Kicking and checking is not f*cking cool,” he admitted.
Speaking to media outlets including Cageside Press, Vera (properly Marlon, but better known as “Chito” at this point) gave plenty of credit to his coaches, including Jason Parillo. “Coaches taught me the proper way, we got better, and I won another fight. I’m happy with the performance.”
Next up, a rematch with Sean O’Malley is something Vera has his sights set on. “If he wins, we f*cking go. I beat his ass again,” Vera exclaimed. Later, Vera would say (via translator, after answering a question about his last fight with O’Malley) that “about Sean O’Malley, my career keeps going forward, keeps going and whatever happened in the past, stays in the past.”
Vera, who hails from and represents Ecuador, also touched on the message he wanted to send home after his win. Elections in the country are currently underway, against a backdrop of violence and civil unrest.
“I really was trying to get on that mic and just, don’t get in any political terms or talk about any politician. I really want to get on the mic and just tell my people, everything’s going to be alright,” said Vera. “United will bring us back together, just stay safe, stay good. Because hard times won’t last forever. The good is coming to Ecuador soon.”
Vera said that on social media coming out of the country, on Twitter and Instagram, “you see somebody get his head blown [off] on the street for no reason. Shooting here, shooting there. It’s a f*cked up moment right now. It’s not like— I’m safe in California, it’s all good for me, but my father, my mother, my grandmother, everybody lives there. So it’s not like I’m just cool here, that things follow you. You don’t know, one day somebody’s going to call you like ‘hey, we’ve got your family. Pay or they’re gone.’ That’s hard to live with.”
Watch the full UFC 292 post-fight press conference with Chito Vera above.
