Rob
Font and
Marlon Vera
are ascendant forces in perhaps the
Ultimate Fighting Championship’s deepest divisions. Conflict
was inevitable.
The Top 10-ranked bantamweights will do battle in the
UFC
on ESPN 35 main event this Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las
Vegas, where the winner figures to move one step closer to a
potential title shot at 135 pounds. Font has rattled off four
victories across his past five outings. He last appeared at UFC on
ESPN 31, where he wound up on the wrong side of a five-round
unanimous decision against the great
Jose Aldo.
Vera, meanwhile, climbs into the Octagon on the strength of
back-to-back wins. He last competed on Nov. 6, when he leveled
Frankie
Edgar with a front kick to the face in the third round of their
encounter at UFC 268.
As Font and Vera make final preparations ahead of their high-stakes
showdown, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied them
to this point:
34: Years of age for Font, who was born on June 25, 1987 in
Leominster, Massachusetts.
8: Font victories by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for
42% of his career total (19). His list of victims includes
Marlon
Moraes,
Thomas
Almeida,
Matt
Schnell,
Joey Gomez
and
George Roop.
Font holds four other victories by submission and seven more by
decision.
43: Seconds needed for Font to punch out
Thane
Stimson at a Reality Fighting show on June 2, 2012. Having
occurred nearly a decade ago, it remains the fastest finish of his
24-fight career.
847: Significant strikes landed by Font as a UFC bantamweight,
placing him fifth on the promotion’s all-time list at 135 pounds.
Only
T.J.
Dillashaw (1,114),
Pedro
Munhoz (1,012),
Aljamain
Sterling (891) and
Petr Yan (883)
have been credited with more.
.773: Cumulative winning percentage between the five
opponents—Aldo,
Raphael
Assuncao, Munhoz,
John
Lineker and
Desmond
Green—who have beaten Font. They boast a combined record of
136-40.
29: Years of age for Vera, who was born in Chone, Ecuador, on Dec.
2, 1992.
8: Vera wins by submission, accounting for 44% of his career total
(18). His methods of choice: three rear-naked chokes, two triangle
chokes, one heel hook, one triangle armbar and one armbar. Vera
owns seven other wins by knockout or technical knockout and three
more by decision.
7: UFC appearances in which Vera has attempted multiple
submissions. He carries a 6-2 record in those bouts. The lone
outlier? A unanimous decision loss to
Marco
Beltran in his organizational debut at UFC 180 in November
2014.
9: Countries in which Vera has plied his trade as a mixed martial
artist. He has gone 9-2 in the United States, 2-1-1 in Peru, 2-0 in
his native Ecuador, 1-1 in England, 1-1 in Mexico, 0-2 in Brazil,
1-0 in Argentina, 1-0 in Australia and 1-0 in Panama.
177: Combined victories between the seven opponents—Aldo, Lineker,
Yadong
Song,
Douglas
Silva de Andrade,
Davey Grant,
Marco
Beltran and
Bruno
Leandro
Soares Lobato—who have defeated Vera. They sport a cumulative
.725 winning percentage (177-64-3).