Marlon Vera has split with longtime head coach Jason Parillo after dropping four consecutive fights, the bantamweight announced ahead of his UFC 331 clash with Charles Jourdain on Sept. 19 in Los Angeles.
Vera told Yahoo Sports he needed a change after losses to Sean O’Malley, Deiveson Figueiredo, Aiemann Zahabi and David Martinez left him winless since August 2023. The 33-year-old has never been stopped in 36 professional bouts but has repeatedly lost close decisions judges attributed to slow starts and stretches of inactivity. “It was a hard decision because we didn’t have a problem,” Vera said, per MMA Mania’s report. “Nothing bad happened.”
Vera’s New Camp With Rosas Sr.
The Ecuadorian is now training full-time alongside 21-year-old prospect Raul Rosas Jr. at Vera’s personal gym, with Rosas’ father overseeing the camp. Vera began working with Parillo in 2018 and enjoyed the most successful run of his career under the respected striking coach, including knockouts of O’Malley, Frankie Edgar and Dominick Cruz that earned him a title shot at UFC 299.
Vera said he wanted to exhaust every option before his career winds down. “I was asking myself what I could do moving forward to kill this bad streak and get back into the win column,” he told Yahoo. “I didn’t want to let my career get to the very end and then question myself: ‘What would have happened if I made a change?'”
Jourdain enters on a three-fight win streak since dropping to bantamweight. A fifth straight loss could put Vera’s UFC future in question.
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MMA Mania — Marlon Vera parts ways with long-time head coach Jason Parillo – ‘It was a hard decision’