One new UFC fight was announced over the weekend. Here it is, along with my initial thoughts on it. Marlon Vera vs. Roman Salazar, UFC Fight Night 74 A bantamweight contest between Marlon Vera and Roman Salazar has been added to UFC Fight Night 74, which goes down August 8 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. This fight will take place on the event’s preliminary card. Vera, a TUF Latin America alum, is 0-1 in the UFC with a decision loss to Marco Beltran in his debut. On the show he knocked out Henry Briones before being removed from the show due to a skin infection. Just 22 years of age, Vera is a decent prospect, although his upset loss to Beltran in his official Octagon debut is definitely worrisome going forward. Still, he’s being given a winnable fight here against Salazar, one the UFC likely wants him to win. Salazar, on the other hand, is 0-1, 1 NC in the UFC. He was choked out by Mitch Gagnon in his UFC debut — a fight he took on short notice — and then fought to a No Contest with Kid Yamamoto in his next outing after an eye poke forced a stop to the bout. He was actually looking pretty decent against Yamamoto and, in my opinion, was winning the fight before the eye poke happened, but he was honest and told the ref he couldn’t see and the fight was stopped. With that unfortunate blemish on his record behind him, I expect him to be quite motivated for this bout against Vera. As far as the odds go, I’d expect Vera to be favored because Salazar just isn’t the kind of fighter who gets much respect from the betting public. But this is a pretty close fight on paper, one that likely hits the scorecards, and with a small body of work to work with for both me, I can already sense this fight has pass written all over it, although obviously that will depend on the betting lines when they are released in a few months’ time.
