Preview UFC San Diego Vera vs Cruz

       5 points to consider going into UFC San Diego Vera vs Cruz 

1. To keep it real, Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera dodged a blood thirsty silver bullet. He told Ariel Helwani he was offered Petr Yan and Yan turned it down. Regardless of Yan’s intentions, God had other plans. 

    We’re 2 days out from Chito taking on SD native and former champion Dominick Cruz. Yes, Cruz is a more decorated former champion, but this fight will be infinitely more approachable than a drag out war with the younger, much more violent Petr Yan. 

2. The craziest fact going into this matchup? Dominick Cruz has never lost a non-title fight. He’s coming off back to back wins, but this Ecuadorian bull might be his toughest fight of that stretch. 

    We’re still not sure if Chito has the skill and dedication to become a champion, but this will be a damn good test of that. Chito has won 9 of his last 11 fights and in his last bout absolutely punished perennial contender Rob Font. In 5 rounds, Chito has plenty of time to catch Cruz with a fight ending blow. 

     Cruz on the other hand might have the most prolific stick and move strategy in MMA history. That being said, he is not the elusive dancer he once was, at some point he will be there to hit. Can Chito make the most of these limited opportunities? Or will Cruz eek out another dance dance revolution decision win? 

3. David Onama is a reckoning to behold. His striking balances forward pressure chaos with accuracy and power. We don’t have a ton of ufc fight footage to go off of, but he appears to pair a quality gas tank with a fairly resilient ground game. If you haven’t seen his UFC debut lightweight war with Mason Jones, get off your bum ass right now and do that! Mason was a 4-1 favorite with Onama coming in on less than 7 days notice. Oh and did I mention Onama is a damn featherweight? Yeah, you read that correctly, he’s a ruthless beast. 

   His opponent, 34 year old Nate Landwehr, is a former M1 champion with back to back snaked wins and losses. One of those losses being a forgivable KO loss to Gilbert Burns’ brother and one of those wins being a ‘loser has their nickname chest tattoo deemed the worst in mma’ decision win over Darren ‘the damage’ Elkins. It will be fun to see if Onama can run a ‘train’ on Nate Landwehr or if Nate will in-fact “smash his face”. This is the peoples main event, there I said it, don’t @ me Heel-wani. 

*editors note: Nate Landwehr’s nickname is literally  “The Train”. See what I did there? 

4.  Alexa Grasso and Aspen Ladd were originally scheduled with fights on this card. Both got canceled. No surprise there. Well at least we have Angela Hill fighting… wait.. what’s that? We’re getting word she’s fighting another Jessica Penne victim. Sheesh. Well at least, at least there’s Cynthia Calvillo, also on a 3 fight skid, vs Nina Nunes. Did I forget to mention the fight before the co-main event is between two un-pictured female fighters? Google UFC and browse the card below if you don’t believe me. 

 

5. With the potentially good and notable female fights dropped and the dumpster fires that remain, I think Mick Maynard and Sean Shelby owe us. What do you say to a last minute fight between them? I think it’s the least we deserve. As a local San Diegan I think I can speak on behalf of us all when I say that this card is down right offensive. What did they give us before this, Frank 

Mir vs Todd Duffee and Jon Jones vs a Janitor? Yikes. Double Yikes. I’m out. Catch me at the Coheed and Cambria show with Alkaline Trio.