"Keep lying to yourself" - Petr Yan claps back at "walking punching bag" Marlon 'Chito' Vera for accusations of ducking their fight

Top UFC bantamweight contenders Petr Yan and Marlon 'Chito' Vera have been embroiled in a war of words on social media.

'Chito' spoke about his goal to fight Yan at Madison Square Garden in November during a recent appearance on Cameron Hanes' Keep Hammering Collective podcast. The Ecuadorian also claimed that Yan refused to fight him in the past:

"[Petr Yan] declined [to fight me before]. We saw each other at the last fight, and he's like, 'Hey, I want you next,' and I said, 'What are you talking about? You declined twice.'"

Catch Vera's comments below (1:06:17):

The video clip of Chito's statement was re-posted on @ChampRDS X. Yan, who did not take Vera's comments lightly, responded fiercely:

"Let's be honest, if we had fought earlier, you would never have made it to the title fight. Everything has its time, and the time for your whooping is coming soon @chitoveraUFC."

'Chito' clapped back at Yan on X and replied:

"Shut the f* up, just show up."

Yan took a stinging jab at Vera's recent lopsided loss against bantamweight champion Sean O'Malley and wrote:

"Keep lying to yourself that someone can refuse to fight a walking punching bag #easymoney"

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Petr Yan and Marlon Vera's recent UFC career trajectory

Petr Yan hit a rough patch in his career after becoming the UFC bantamweight champion. He lost the title to Aljamain Sterling via disqualification due to an illegal knee but defeated Cory Sandhagen in the interim bantamweight title fight. However, he lost the title unification bout against Sterling and went on a three-fight losing skid, suffering decision losses against Sean O'Malley and Merab Dvalishvili.

While many MMA fans wondered if the Russian fighter's days at the top were over, he defeated rising contender Song Yadong at the recent UFC 299 event to get back in the win column.

Meanwhile, Marlon Vera has enjoyed mixed success over the last few years. The March 2023 loss against Cory Sandhagen snapped the Ecuadorian's four-fight winning streak, including wins over Rob Font and Dominick Cruz.

'Chito', the only fighter to defeat current champion Sean O'Malley, was given a title shot following a win over veteran Pedro Munoz. The rematch did not go well for the Ecuadorian as O'Malley put on a striking clinic to defeat him via unanimous decision in the UFC 299 headlining bout.