Marlon Vera would possibly simply be probably the most harmful man within the UFC bantamweight division.

After a sluggish begin to his battle within the UFC San Diego most important occasion, Vera delivered a completely brutal head kick that blasted Dominick Cruz and despatched him face-first to the canvas in a heap to finish the evening. Cruz’s nostril might by no means be the identical after Vera’s foot primarily rearranged his face with the kick, with the battle formally being stopped 2:17 into the fourth spherical.

“It was arduous to seek out the low kicks,” Vera defined in regards to the end. “Within the fourth spherical, coach instructed me, throw a bomb after the punches and you will see him.”

That’s precisely the way it performed out, however earlier than the knockout, Vera had his arms full with a recreation Cruz, who was combating in entrance of his hometown crowd on Saturday.

It was a quick begin from Cruz that noticed him come out of the nook weapons blazing as he regarded to determine his dominance early whereas protecting Vera on his again foot. Vera stayed composed early, throwing a wonderfully timed counter left hand that sat Cruz on the canvas momentarily till the previous bantamweight champion bounced again to his toes.

Cruz recovered rapidly from the knockdown as he continued blitzing Vera with rapid-fire mixtures whereas additionally mixing in a late takedown. That just about backfired when Vera threw an armbar try that compelled Cruz to scramble free earlier than getting again to his toes once more.

Cruz continued to show blinding pace and quantity on the toes as he regarded to out-land Vera in each alternate. In return, Vera tried to arrange his energy punches however was nonetheless reacting to what Cruz was doing, which generally left him a step behind in lots of exchanges.

Cruz continued to behave because the aggressor and landed on-target, however then Vera evened the rating with a surprising proper hand that related flush on the chin. But once more, Cruz dropped to the canvas, however he bought again to his toes virtually as rapidly.

As Cruz saved transferring on his toes, Vera stayed affected person, ready for the proper second to throw punches whereas additionally making an attempt to arrange his kicks. When Cruz ducked out of the way in which as a mix got here flying at him, Vera noticed the opening he wanted to launch the fight-ending kick.

The foot related flush with the face as Cruz toppled to the canvas, forcing the referee to hurry in to save lots of him earlier than Vera might punish him additional. It was an unbelievable end, as Vera turned solely the second fighter to complete Cruz with strikes and the primary individual to ever hand him a loss in a non-title battle.

Extra importantly, the win strikes Vera that a lot nearer to a title shot of his personal, though he’s not dropping any sleep about how rapidly that may occur as a result of he is aware of finally he’ll get there.

“I got here to this sport to be a world champion,” Vera mentioned. “I’m not tripping. I’ll maintain working and I’ll maintain kicking ass. I’m gonna be a f****** world champion.”