"That's a low-level style to do MMA" - Marlon Vera reiterates comments on Dominick Cruz's style, clarifies he '1000%' respects the former champion

Marlon Vera tried to further explain the seemingly inflammatory comments he made about Dominick Cruz. Vera initially made the comments at the UFC San Diego post-fight press conference where he described Cruz's style as "low level."

Speaking to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, the burgeoning bantamweight wanted to give a broader context to what he meant when discussing the former multi-promotion world champion.

While discussing Cruz's resume and thoughts on his style, Vera said:

"I respect 1000% him for what he did. I said this in the press conference, he make bantamweight cool. He was a name that brought up the bantamweights... I'm gonna explain a little bit when I say the low level thing. Talking about fighting like fighting technique. Doesn't matter what your style is."

Vera continued:

"We've got a guy like [Israel] Adesanya... He has a real solid base. His technique is sharp as f*ck but he's really flashy. With Dominick the movement that he does, me and my coach we think that's a low-level style to do MMA. It's just our opinion. It's a fact maybe we prove it because of the way we finish him."

Watch the latest edtion of The MMA Hour below (Vera interview starts at 3:03:30):

Vera won his last fight by way of a fourth-round headkick knockout that will surely be a knockout of the year contender. Cruz was ahead on the scorecards going into the fourth, but 'Chito's finishing ability ensured that the Ecuadorian enjoyed the last laugh.

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What's next for Marlon Vera?

Marlon Vera is the fifth-ranked contender at bantamweight as of this writing. All the contenders ranked above him have fights lined up, so it largely feels like a matter of seeing who emerges victorious across several key bantamweight bouts and going from there.

No.1-ranked contender Petr Yan takes on No.13-ranked UFC bantamweight Sean O'Malley at UFC 280 in October.

Second-ranked contender T.J. Dillashaw vies for the bantamweight world title against reigning champion Aljamain Sterling, also at UFC 280.

No.3-ranked 135 pounder José Aldo clashes with No.6-ranked contender Merab Dvalishvili this weekend at UFC 278. Plus, No.4-ranked Cory Sandhagen will test his skills against No.10-ranked bantamweight contender Song Yadong in a September UFC Fight Night main event.

'Chito' fits well into this company and the 135-pound division continues to be a very entertaining weight category.