Marlon “Chito” Vera decided not to take a short fight against a rising opponent.

Vera is as solid as he gets at bantamweight, but he wants to make sure he has a proper camp before returning to the Octagon. It’s hard to blame “Chito” for being cautious after losing his last two matches.

This is especially true when the proposed opponent is Song Yadong.

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Marlon Vera took the stage “The Ariel Helwani Show” and soon announced that he had turned down the offer to fight.

“They actually called me two weeks ago for a short notice (fight) and I had almost four weeks to make weight. You know what, I’ll do it in January or February.”

When asked who the opponent was, Vera had no problem saying it was a rising opponent.

“It was Song Yadong at Apex in Vegas, and I loved it. I got five rounds to tire him out and kick his ass, but then I said, ‘Okay, don’t get excited again because it’s so easy to get excited,’ when you’re running 13 miles every two weeks.”

Yadong is 5-2 in its last seven matches. The two losses were against Cory Sandhagen and Petr Yan. His 135-pound weight still remains a threat.

One has to wonder if the UFC will try to rebook this for 2025.

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