Preview: UFC on ESPN 35 ‘Font vs. Vera’

The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s latest card on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas looks like a one-bout affair by most measures, although that one bout—the bantamweight main event between Rob Font and Marlon Vera—has the potential to be one of the best of the year thus far. Beyond that, there is not much from a marquee standpoint at UFC on ESPN 35, but some potential for excitement exists: A lightweight affair pitting Jared Gordon against Grant Dawson stands out as a clear highlight, while Andre Fili and Joanderson Brito should combine for a violent scrap at 145 pounds.

Now to the UFC on ESPN 35 “Font vs. Vera” preview:

Bantamweights

#5 BW | Rob Font (19-5, 9-4 UFC) vs. #8 BW | Marlon Vera (18-7-1, 12-6 UFC)

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BETUS ODDS: Font (-140), Vera (+110)

Font has already overachieved thus far in his UFC career, but he is in a crucial spot if he wants to remain a potential title contender in a stacked bantamweight division. Font got off to a bit of a slow start to his UFC career. The Bostonian impressed in his UFC debut with a knockout win over George Roop in 2014 but then missed over a year due to injuries and had the misfortune of being matched against John Lineker shortly after his return. That started a trend for Font’s career the next few years. Below a certain level of competition, Font looked like an offensively potent fighter in all aspects who could dominate his opponents, but he found himself cautious and sometimes outclassed against more established competition. A December 2019 win over Ricky Simon seemed to be a turning point for Font in terms of consistency. Simon brought the type of all-out pressure that had usually been enough to cause him to shrink, but instead Font matched him every step of the way, answering aggression with offense and scoring a one-sided decision win. From there, Font cashed in on big opportunities against fading versions of Marlon Moraes and Cody Garbrandt to establish himself as a main event fighter, setting up a chance at his biggest win to date against Jose Aldo in December. That fight wound up in a clear decision loss in what was a frustrating affair—but not for reasons involving Font’s underperformance; in fact, it was quite the opposite, as he fought a smart and nearly flawless fight, only to find himself unable to make up for Aldo’s big moments of offense early on and ability to control the fight in the later rounds. Font is still firmly in the mix near the top of the division, but he will need to find another path towards a title shot that does not involve going through Aldo. Here, he will need to hold serve against another rising talent in Vera.

Vera has now been on the roster for almost eight years, nearly all of which have involved an impressive rise through the ranks. Ecuador’s “Chito” was part of the first season of “The Ultimate Fighter Latin America” and was more notable for his story than anything else; he was fighting to afford surgery for his daughter, who was born with a rare neurological disorder. Vera was eventually eliminated from the season due to a skin infection, then lost his proper UFC debut to Marco Beltran—a combination that would usually result in the UFC handing Vera his walking papers. Instead, the UFC gave Vera another chance, and after a submission win over Roman Salazar, it was off to the races. Primarily a grappling specialist early in his UFC career, Vera eventually built out an effective striking game that is able to leverage his seemingly inhuman level of durability. Vera is not typically a knockout artist—although his November starching of Frankie Edgar via front kick would suggest otherwise—but he is willing to march his opponents down and win a war of attrition more often than not. That aggression has also helped him overcome the slow starts that plagued him earlier in his career. While Vera is still not a particularly hot starter, the realization that he can eat shots from the bantamweight division’s hardest hitters has allowed him to immediately get to work and start taking over the fight sooner rather than later. This marks Vera’s first main event, a remarkably impressive culmination of the work put in by a fighter who was an afterthought on a reality show cast that was not believed to be particularly strong; and at just 29 years old, there is a chance Vera can use this fight to springboard into another level of success.

This is a difficult fight to call, but it should be an absolute war given that both men seem to be unbreakable and capable of fighting for 25 minutes. Font does seem to have gotten over a lot of the issues that have plagued him throughout his career, something that was apparent even in a loss against Aldo. Power used to be enough on its own to cause Font to retreat, but despite Aldo blasting him with his occasional bursts of offense, he stuck to a more aggressive and high-paced gameplan, even if it was not enough to make up the gap on the scorecards. There is still a bit of a question as to how Font deals with pressure, however, at least at this level. The Simon win did answer some of those questions, but for all the aggression that was brought to the table, it was wild and defensively void to the point that Font’s main test was to stay composed rather than address any sort of technical issue. Font’s three fights since have not pressed that issue. Moraes went away quickly; Garbrandt was quick to retreat in the face of Font’s offense; and while Aldo still hits like a truck, he has never been one to press any sort of consistent pace. That is where Vera comes in. “Chito” will almost certainly get hit attempting to force Font backwards, but he will definitely succeed in causing plenty of exchanges where he will hit the former CES MMA champion with much crisper offense than Simon could. The wrestling/grappling is also an interesting aspect that could go either way. Vera has had much more prominent submission victories, but he is also the easier fighter to take down, and Font has increasingly leaned on his wrestling as a change-up. With that said, Vera may be potent enough to dissuade that idea. This is hard to parse, but the bet is that Font can land enough early offense while Vera warms up with his pressure that the Massachusetts native can find something of a groove, enough so to keep him in the fight throughout. As the better strategist of the two, he is also the likelier fighter to exploit what he sees over the course of 25 minutes. Vera having five rounds worth of durability and cardio, along with the potential that he is finally hitting his stride as a finisher, make this feel like a risky pick either way, but the call is for Font to win via decision.

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