A shoulder injury could scratch Henry Cejudo from UFC 292. But as far as Marlon Vera is concerned, he will be in Boston on Aug. 19, whether or not he’s fighting the ex-champ.
“On my end, it’s on — it’s signed, fighter is in shape, fighter is working, the team is nice and good,” Vera said Wednesday on The MMA Hour. “We’re good. We’re ready to go.
“I’m not the type that goes into the digging — I don’t give two f****. If he signs the contract, and he shows up on Aug. 19, epic. If not, I don’t give a f***. Somebody else will, and it doesn’t matter if it’s him or anybody else.
“Whoever is in front of me Aug. 19, it’s a wrap. I’m going to put their f****** lights off, and I’m motivated, I’m disciplined, and whoever comes out that day is gonna get stopped. Hopefully, it happens. I don’t know if he’s hurt. I wouldn’t talk crazy if I don’t really know what’s going on. Just you guys know on my end, it’s all done.”
The UFC announced the matchup on Monday as a verbal agreement between Cejudo and Vera. For Cejudo, however, the Aug. 19 was contingent on the health of his shoulder, which an upcoming doctor’s appointment would decide.
Vera said he’ll fight on any upcoming event against any other opponent if the news doesn’t go his way.
“I’m ready to go … just send me plane tickets and some bread,” he said.
“The Cejudo fight is a huge fight,” he added later. “I would love that to happen. But the fool is playing games. He went out of the game for a couple of years, came back, took on [Aljamain Sterling at UFC 288], he couldn’t do s*** in the fight. So if it’s him, cool. I think it’s a great fight. Put me right back in the title contention position, which I feel I am.”
Cejudo lost a split decision to Sterling and briefly entertained going back into retirement. A few days later, however, he changed his tune and called out Sterling’s longtime training partner, Merab Dvalishvili. The problem with that matchup was a hand injury to Dvalishvili, and the matchup against Vera was subsequently announced.
Vera suffered a split decision loss to Cory Sandhagen in his previous outing, snapping a four-fight winning streak capped by a knockout win over ex-champ Dominick Cruz. Despite that, he didn’t feel a title shot was out of reach.
“I’m one of those guys I can fight for the the belt any day,” he said. “So I’m not down at all [after the loss]. I’m f****** pretty high up, and really ready to go, and just just prove [to] me, prove [to] me that I’m better than I am. Prove me that I will be a world champion. And let’s see if he might up and do it, or let’s see if he’s actually injured. If he’s actually injured, well f***, recover. But let’s see what happens.”
