MIAMI – Marlon Vera has fired back at Aljamain Sterling after the former UFC champion claimed that “Chito’s” training camp had some troubles ahead of his return.
Vera (21-8-1 MMA, 15-7 UFC) is scheduled to challenge UFC bantamweight champ Sean O’Malley (17-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC) this Saturday in the main event of UFC 299 (pay-per-view, ESPNews, ESPN+). Sterling, ahead of the event, said that he was picking O’Malley to win due to things he heard about Vera’s training camp in the lead up to the fight.
“I’m hearing through the grapevine that he didn’t really have a great camp, from a lot of guys that trained with ‘Chito,'” Sterling said. “I don’t know how true that is. So, with that said, I’m leaning toward O’Malley to get it done.”
On Wednesday at media day, Vera was asked about Sterling’s claims, which he didn’t appreciate.
“Aljo, dude, he’s so f*cking hungry for attention,” Vera said. “He never got attention in the UFC. He became a world champion, he defended, and he got booed in f*cking New Jersey against f*cking Cejudo. Who gets booed against Cejudo? Holy sh*t, people f*cking hate you.
“Now you’re becoming a YouTuber because your fighting career is probably not going well. I don’t want to knock down anybody because I want to focus on my fight and keep my karma in the right direction. I mean, he heard? We have a private gym. There’s no janitor in my gym, you know what I’m saying? Like we don’t have people. It’s the same three people year round. Saturday night, you will see how bad my camp was. I’m a guy that in what, 22, 23 fights in the UFC, has never some with an excuse like most of these fighters.
“All these fighters have something to complain, ‘Oh, this and that happened. Oh, I’m going through this. Oh, I didn’t have this.’ I’ve never said anything, and that should tell you something about me. Aljo, f*ck off. You have a fight ahead. Focus on your life. You’re a f*cking loser.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 299.
