Marlon Vera definitely had one of the most bizarre and controversial social media posts over the weekend.
Vera, a former UFC bantamweight title challenger, had a unique take on Saturday’s UFC 306 main event in which Merab Dvalishvili took the 135-pound title in dominant fashion from Sean O'Malley. Vera wrote on X, ‘I call it the other way, but congrats Merab well fought,’ which triggered many responses given the nature of the fight.
Vera said his comments were misinterpreted, as he meant something completely different.
“I tweeted after the fight, ‘I call it the other way, but congrats Merab,’ and when I said ‘call it the other way,’ I didn’t refer to the decision,” Vera said on his YouTube channel. “That was a clear-cut Merab won five founds. I was meaning that before the fight, O’Malley was going to win the fight because of his size and punch power and how he defends the takedowns against Aljo – who on paper is probably a better wrestler than Merab.
“I got called that I got CTE and some sh*t, because they assumed I said I saw the decision for O’Malley, which that’s impossible.”
In terms of the fight, Vera was impressed with what he saw from Dvalisvili. He also thought O’Malley didn’t have the right approach to the fight, which contributed to the lopsided showing.
“That was a great fight,” Vera said. “I really thought if Sean could hit Merab early in the fight, things could change because he’s been dropped by Cejudo and Marlon Moraes, but he just couldn’t land. Merab had that kind of jerky move, and it’s hard to hit him. In a way, you can’t snipe this guy. You have to fight him. I would say it’s compared to the fight with Chad Mendes and Conor. Every time Conor would get up, he would crowd Chad right away and be on his face right away. Every time Sean would get up, there was little separation. That probably messed his rhythm, and we know Merab can just take you down over and over and over.
“In my opinion, you have to sit down and fight him. He’s going to take you down regardless, might as well just go crazy on him. But overall, great fight. Congratulations to the new champion.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 306.
