"When I started, there was no road" - Marlon Vera details how moving to U.S. helped his fight career

Marlon Vera has opened up about how his decision to move from his native Ecuador to the United States of America affected his MMA career.

Speaking to Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin Iole, Vera asserted that moving to the U.S. tremendously helped his career. Recalling the difficulties he faced due to the lack of MMA-centric training facilities and guidance in Ecuador, Vera stated:

“To make it is so hard because when I started, there was no road. There was no guide. There was no like, this way you should go.”

Having competed in the UFC since 2014, Vera noted that he sometimes wonders how he’s managed to stay in the UFC for so long. ‘Chito’ opined that in the early stages of his career, he was simply trying embody the role of a fighter.

He added, however, that his work ethic has always been good and he’s always been the person who tries really hard. Vera, who currently trains at RVCA in California, said:

“At the beginning, I was, when I see videos of me hitting mitts or grappling back in the day, I was, it looks like a joke. But I was being serious about it. I was being persistent. I was just trying to figure it out. And once I moved to the U.S., I was like, ‘Wow! Okay. This is how training feels. This is real.’”

‘Chito’ added that after training in the U.S., he's learned how to gradually take his MMA arsenal from one level to the next. On that note, Vera reiterated that shifting base to the States helped him turn around his MMA career for good.

Watch Marlon Vera’s conversation with Kevin Iole in the video below:

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Kenny Florian foresees Marlon Vera defeating Rob Font in their bantamweight fight

Top-tier bantamweights Marlon Vera and Rob Font will clash in a five-round matchup that’ll headline the upcoming UFC on ESPN: Font vs. Vera event on April 30th.

In a recent edition of the Anik & Florian Podcast, former UFC fighter Kenny Florian weighed in on the fight and picked Vera to beat Font.

Florian lauded Marlon Vera’s clinch game, knees, elbow combinations, and calf kicks, whilst highlighting that he's also the taller and rangier fighter against Rob Font:

“Where he [Vera] gets a little bit vulnerable I think is on the feet in the boxing exchanges. I think that's where Rob Font can expose him a little bit, but 'Chito' has a chin for days and I think he knows how to make the proper adjustments in a fight in real time. So I like Chito here, I'm gonna go with Chito."

Watch the full episode below: