Marlon “Chito” Vera walked into the cage carrying a four-fight losing streak and the kind of questions that can swallow a career. He walked out with a statement TKO, a snarling reminder that he is not done with this sport just yet.
The Ecuadorian snapped his skid with a third-round stoppage of Charles Jourdain, breaking the Canadian’s resistance with a brutal left hook at 2:02 of the final frame. Jourdain went down again, looked up, and waved it off himself. A fighter choosing his own exit. You don’t see that often.
Vera had been simmering from the opening bell. The first round was frantic but sharp, both men trading with intent rather than desperation. “Chito” went to the body early with knees, stabbing at Jourdain’s midsection while the Canadian answered with hooks to the ribs and straight shots. Twice, Vera caught a kick and dumped Jourdain to the mat – the first time settling into closed guard, the second time punctuating the takedown with punches. The horn sounded with Vera landing a nasty left hook, a preview of the shot that would end it.
The pressure only grew in round two. Vera hacked at Jourdain’s lead leg, then climbed upstairs with a crisp flurry – hooks and an uppercut that sliced through the guard and sent Jourdain to the canvas. Jourdain scrambled to the fence, tried to stay elusive, but Vera stalked him with heavy, measured power. Another caught kick, another knockdown, and this time “Chito” added spiteful ground and pound, picking his shots rather than wasting them.
Jourdain somehow rose again, only to be folded late in the round by a knee to the body. His toughness kept him in the fight. His body language betrayed the cost.
By the third, Vera smelled the finish. The exchanges were shorter, meaner. When the left hook crashed home, Jourdain crumpled yet again, and in that instant he had seen enough. As he hit the floor, he waved off the fight himself, signalling to the referee that the night was over. Perhaps the damage around the eye. Perhaps the accumulation everywhere. Either way, the choice was clear.
Vera didn’t just end a fight. He ended a slide that threatened to drag him out of relevance. On a night built around a flyweight title grudge between Joshua Van and Alexandre Pantoja, “Chito” carved out his own piece of the story – the veteran who refused to fade quietly.
Tuivasa ties unwanted record as Despaigne edges split decision
Earlier on the card, Tai Tuivasa’s night told a very different tale.
Robelis Despaigne earned a split-decision win over the Australian heavyweight, with scores of 29-28, 28-29, 29-28. The result handed Tuivasa his eighth straight defeat, drawing him level with Tony Ferguson for the longest losing streak in UFC history – a record no fighter wants next to their name.
Tuivasa had his moments, especially in the second round when he rocked Despaigne with a massive overhand left in the opening seconds. Instead of chasing a wild finish, he drove the Cuban to the fence and looked to grapple. Despaigne answered with knees and clinch work, then hit a tidy throw into side control. He couldn’t do enough with the position to keep it, and the referee brought them back to the feet.
By the third, Tuivasa looked exhausted. He ate a grazing head kick, then chopped Despaigne to his knees with a low kick, but the Cuban repeatedly dragged the fight back into the clinch. Overhooks, trips, awkward but effective throws – Despaigne used them all to blunt Tuivasa’s power and bank control time, mixing in ground and pound in the closing minute.
Tuivasa still found the energy to stand and sling punches in the dying seconds, a final act of defiance that drew a line under a punishing stretch of his career. Eight losses on the bounce, his place in UFC history now tied to a streak he never wanted.
As the prelims closed with Vera’s resurgence and Tuivasa’s heartbreak, the stage belonged to the main card – and to a flyweight champion in Joshua Van who still has to walk through Alexandre Pantoja if he wants to be remembered as the division’s true king.
