[autotag]Marlon Vera[/autotag] think [autotag]Deiveson Figueiredo[/autotag] should have lost a point at UFC on ABC 7.
Vera (23-10-1 MMA, 15-9 UFC) didn’t like the ax kick that Figueiredo (24-3-1 MMA, 13-3-1 UFC) landed on him while he was lying on his back – right after the first round horn sounded in the bantamweight fight last Saturday in Abu Dhabi.
“Chito” lost the fight by unanimous decision, but says that if referee Keith Peterson had recognized the illegal strike and penalized Figueiredo for it, the result would have been different.
“The only thing I want to take away from this fight, or at least I want to start with, was like, that ax kick he landed in the first round, it wasn’t an accident,” said Vera in her YouTube channel. “That was right in my face. I think it should be considered a point deducted automatically. That’s my thinking and what I believe. You follow the rules, you don’t kick an opponent to the ground. I could do it if I was playing the game with my hand .
“When you’re a downed opponent – not down, but I was in guard and that was a solid kick to the face. … This is something different that could change the course of the fight because I’m getting my head hit the ground, ultimately it’s an illegal shot, and I would say if this was a point deduction, we could be talking about a different story now.
If Peterson had subtracted a point from Figueiredo, the fight would have been considered a majority draw. Vera also spoke about his comeback five months after suffering a beating in his title fight against bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley at UFC 299 in March.
“I just want to say one thing about me coming back a little too quickly, me and the team definitely came to the conclusion that we definitely came back too soon,” Vera said. “I got into a five-round war with the champion and we all agreed that after my title fight in March, we would come back in November, in New York, or in December.
“There was no chance of us coming back sooner, so I think it was a mistake on our part. I would say it was a team decision because at the end of the day we are a team and we all agree to come back, even if we say no. Sometimes you feel good and you just say, ‘Fuck it, let’s do it,’ and you roll the dice.”
Related
Marlon Vera plans time off to ‘reset’ after UFC defeat on ABC 7: ‘Maybe I’ll come back too quickly from a difficult title fight’
UFC on ABC 7 social media reactions: Deiveson Figueiredo’s decision over Marlon Vera leads to Sean O’Malley’s bold prediction
For more information on the card, visit the MMA Junkie events hub to UFC on ABC 7.
This article was originally published on MMA Junkie: Marlon Vera: Figueiredo should have lost a point for UFC kick in Saudi Arabia
