Marlon Vera är väldigt besviken över att inte få möta Jimmie Rivera på Fight Night 103, och ifrågasätter varför ”El Terrors” orsaker till att inte godkänna matchningen.
Förra onsdagen rapporterades det att Bryan Caraway (21-7) hade skadat sig och drogs ur matchen mot Jimmie ”El Terror” Rivera (20-1) på UFC Fight Night 103. Detta lämnade Rivera utan en motståndare, och för Marlon Vera (8-3) öppnades den perfekta möjligheten att hoppa in och ta en fight på kort notis mot Rivera och göra ett namn för sig i UFCs bantamviktsdivision. Det berättar Vera för MMAFighting:
“I saw that Caraway had suffered an injury, so as soon as I saw that, I began asking for that fight. I asked what my trainer thought about the match up and my trainer said that it was a hard fight, but that I haven’t stopped training, and that it wasn’t a bad match up for me. And he’s always said, you have to take risks to get to the top. So I called my manager and we began to pressure and he called me three hours later and said that it was processing and that my name was in and we just had to wait for the UFC’s answer. So on Friday, my manager said that we got the fight, he said that the UFC gave Rivera my name and John Dodson’s, and that Rivera had chosen me. They sent out the contracts, we sign the contracts, it’s announced via social media, all the Latin American magazines that always support me published the news, it was made official.”
Men trots att fighten var officiell tog hela skedet en vändning när matchen som Vera hoppades skulle sätta fart på hans karriär plötsligt var borta.
“Saturday, I was relaxing at the gym because from Wednesday, since I wasn’t sure I was going to fight, I had already cut 15 pounds,” Vera explained. “So I was just relaxing and waiting, and that morning he [Rivera] posts online that he’s not going to fight, that he’s sorry with his fans. I took a screen shot and I sent it to my manager. So we began to ask what was going on and that’s when MMA Fighting reported all those excuses or arguments that I’m not a ranked fighter, that he doesn’t want to hurt me because it’d be bullying, and a bunch of barbarities. Then on top of that, he gets my daughter involved and that’s when I really got mad, and I took it personal. If he wants to say that I’m not a fighter of his level, that’s okay, but when you get my daughter involved that’s another thing.”
Menar att det vore mobbning
En av Riveras huvudorsaker till att han inte ville ta matchen mot Vera på kort notis är att Rivera helt enkelt ville ha en rankad motståndare för att kunna höja sina aktier inom bantamviktsdivisionen. Dessutom skulle en fight mot Vera betrakta som mobbning, något som Rivera inte sysslar med.
Vera själv har svårt att tro Rivera, då han även hade John Dodson (18-8) som alternativ som är topprankad inom divisionen.
“I think it’s something that doesn’t make any sense. That doesn’t have an argument. It makes him look like a man without a word, someone who’s not a real fighter. It’s true that he beat Alcantara, and Faber and that’s good, but that happened already. That’s the past. So when he started talking about not fighting someone that’s not ranked, why didn’t he accept Dodson? So really, everything that he says doesn’t make any sense. From my point of view, and many people’s point of view, he accepted the fight without looking at my fights and when he saw my fights, the excuses began, my daughter’s syndrome began, and they began saying I wasn’t ranked. But none of that makes sense because Dodson was on the line.”
Rivera nämner också Veras dotter som en anledning att inte ta en match mot honom – Veras dotter lider av Moebius syndrom och behöver opereras, något som Vera just nu försöker tjäna ihop till genom bland annat ett välgörenhetskonto på GoFundMe.com. Men Vera menar att det enda sättet han tjänar pengar på är genom fighting:
“If he truly cared about my daughter, he would fight, bully me, beat me, and I still cash a check for the fight.”
Håller ni med Vera?
Omslagsfoto: Mazdak Cavian
