“Chito” needed time to put Cruz down for good, but in the fourth round he was locked up and landed a brutal head kick that left Cruz face down on the mat to close the UFC San Diego main event. It was the fourth straight win for Vera, who entered the weekend as the No. 7 bantamweight in the MMA Fighting world rankings. In the afternoon post-fight press conference, Vera was asked if there was anything about Cruz’s unique standup style that confused him and downplayed the difficulty of the fight. “Honestly, me and my team, we really think the way he’s playing is very low level,” Vera said. “There’s no base, there’s no good stance, all that side-to-side movement — we said to each other, ‘We’ve got to kick this guy’s ass.’ But in saying that, you’re putting too much pressure on yourself. “I just think his style is not the best style for MMA. Maybe for boxing it might work better, but for MMA you have too many weapons. What he does well is mixing takedowns with this movement. That’s when it’s successful. But I thought it was going to be hard for him to take me down, so we were pretty confident, but we knew this fight wasn’t going to be easy.” Cruz’s career accomplishments include a 24-4 record and championship reigns in the UFC and WEC. He is legendary for his evasion and durability, with only one knockout loss on his record prior to his fight with Vera. That loss, a second-round TKO to Henry Cejudo at UFC 249, was hotly disputed by Cruz, but there was no question of Saturday’s finish. Vera had actually hurt Cruz on a few occasions earlier in the fight, but he was cautious as opposed to rushing for a finish. “I was just being patient, taking my time,” Vera said. “I dropped him in the first round and when I dropped him I wasn’t mad. I didn’t try to chase the finish, I never chased the finish. I have no problem standing in front of you and finding those openings. “He’s coming in really good shape,” added Vera. “When you’re fit, you can stand up and he can fight pretty well. So when I dropped him the first time in the first round, the first thing that came to mind was what happened to the [Cruz vs. Pedro] The Munhoz fight. Munhoz rushed to the finish and then left it all in the first round, so I said to myself, ‘I still have four rounds to break this guy, so don’t go crazy.’ This thing (points to head) is a mother*****, so I said, “Just stay focused and you’ll catch him.” With the impressive knockout, Vera extended his record for most finishes in UFC bantamweight history to 10. His last three wins have come against ranked opponents (Cruz, Rob Font, Frankie Edgar) and he has one of the strongest cases for a title shot in his division. However, there are several contenders in the same range, including Petr Yan, Sean O’Malley, Jose Aldo and Merab Dvalishvili, who are set to compete in the coming months and could hinder Vera’s path to a title shot. Not to mention the bantamweight champion himself, Aljamain Sterling, who next defends his title against TJ Dillashaw at UFC 280 in October. Vera plans to keep a close eye on his peers and how the title image evolves. “I pay attention to every UFC, top to bottom,” Vera said. “It doesn’t matter who’s fighting, it doesn’t matter who’s the first or last fight of the night, I’m watching. I like watching. That’s why I love doing commentary, because I’m watching live. I can pick up the energy of the match, I can see what’s going on in there. I will definitely keep an eye out and see who they give [Sterling] Next.”
