Chito Vera admits he may have returned too soon in first statement after UFC Abu Dhabi loss

Too much, too soon.

That’s the message from Marlon Vera after a disappointing performance against Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC Abu Dhabi on Saturday.

In his first fight back after falling to UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley in lopsided fashion at UFC 299 back in March, the always tough “Chito” suffered a second straight loss after dropping a unanimous decision to Figueiredo. While he had his moments in the fight, Vera started slow and just never put together the kind of offensive volume needed to beat the former flyweight champion.

Following the fight, Vera released a statement on Instagram admitting that he may have been a little too anxious to get back in the cage again without giving himself the proper time to recover from his five-round war against O’Malley just five months ago.

“I fail at myself last night,” Vera wrote. “I thought I was ready. I felt good in the gym but at the end maybe I come back too quick after a hard title fight. Life doesn’t end here I still dream about big things I just need time to let go and reset.”

During the fight, the UFC broadcast team — which included UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier and Paul Felder — noted that Vera remarked to them about getting out of the gates faster than usual because he only had three rounds to work.

In the past, Vera has often started somewhat sluggishly in the opening round but shown an ability to get stronger as the fight moves forward. That’s worked out for him in the past, most notably with a fourth-round knockout of former UFC champion Dominick Cruz as well as a stunning third-round finish of UFC Hall of Famer Frankie Edgar in 2021.

This time around, Vera just never quite kicked into second gear.