JRE MMA Show #117 with Marlon "Chito" Vera

Marlon "Chito" Vera 0:00 (drum roll) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out. The Joe Rogan Experience.

Joe Rogan 0:06 Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. (rock music plays) He saw ... Yeah. There's, uh, a few guys in LA that are like legit LA legends, legends of tattooing. He's one of the biggest.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 0:24 Yeah. We did one set and that was painful.

Joe Rogan 0:28 (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 0:28 That, that kicked my ass. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 0:30 Is the back more painful than the arms?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 0:32 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 0:33 Really?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 0:34 The arms are easy.

Joe Rogan 0:35 Yeah. The arms are pretty easy.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 0:36 I basically ... Uh, you feel it, but you're not crying. On my back-

Joe Rogan 0:41 You were crying?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 0:42 ... there, there was ... Not crying, but about to.

Joe Rogan 0:44 (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 0:44 There were points that my arm were shaking-

Joe Rogan 0:46 Really?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 0:47 ... with- without me moving it.

Joe Rogan 0:49 Wow. See, that's, it's weird what parts hurt, 'cause, um, uh, the elbow hurts a lot, like the inside of the elbow.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 0:57 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 0:57 That shit hurts a lot. I was like, "I thought that was numb." Because like you think about how many times you hit things with your elbows, it doesn't hurt at all.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:04 I crack heads with elbows, but the-

Joe Rogan 1:06 (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:06 ... the, the little ink it will make you pay. It's crazy.

Joe Rogan 1:10 It's weird. Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:11 I have my full leg, a dragon.

Joe Rogan 1:13 Yeah?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:13 Like top to bottom, my leg. That's also awful.

Joe Rogan 1:17 Really? Leg is awful?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:18 And like some parts, like some parts in the thigh where the sun don't goes-

Joe Rogan 1:23 Hmm.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:24 ... that's where it's the most.

Joe Rogan 1:24 Where the sun doesn't go. (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:26 You know, it, it ... (laughs) You know what's funny about my, my leg tattoo? When this guy was tattooing my inner thigh, he was pushing my balls aside-

Joe Rogan 1:36 (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:36 ... so he can ink.

Joe Rogan 1:38 Right?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:38 And I was like-

Joe Rogan 1:39 He's touching your balls.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:41 Kind of. He was pushing them away.

Joe Rogan 1:42 Well, he's touching them.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:43 A little bit, yeah. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:46 (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:46 And this is, do you know what's the, the crazy part? When I was there, I was just like ... Because I normally get a tattoo right after a fight because that's my rest time. And I was just thinking, "This is painful. This is awkward." I was just like thinking about like what's worse, the guy grabbing, pushing my dick away or the pain right there? Because it was so painful that I was like, "Wow, I'm hurt."

Joe Rogan 2:09 Well, the guy t- pushing your dick away is just weird.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 2:11 No, but he-

Joe Rogan 2:11 That's not painful, right?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 2:12 It's not painful, but it's very weird.

Joe Rogan 2:14 (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 2:15 It's painful in a way, you know, whatever.

Joe Rogan 2:17 It's weird if weirdness feels good. You're like, "Damn, this is enjoyable."

Marlon "Chito" Vera 2:20 Yeah, it's ... And you start going like, "Ooh."

Joe Rogan 2:22 Oh-oh, that would be a pro-

Marlon "Chito" Vera 2:22 You don't want that.

Joe Rogan 2:23 That would be a problem.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 2:24 That is mission.

Joe Rogan 2:24 Or maybe you do, maybe you do.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 2:25 No, it doesn't happen.

Joe Rogan 2:26 Not for you, but-

Marlon "Chito" Vera 2:27 Yeah. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 2:27 ... for some people.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 2:28 Happens.

Joe Rogan 2:29 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 2:29 But I was like that, it was painful and awkward and that was hard.

Joe Rogan 2:34 (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 2:34 That was, it was hard to ... I w- I was just like, "Please finish that part quick."

Joe Rogan 2:38 Uh. So w- who did your leg?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 2:40 Uh, this guy called Mark Nava.

Joe Rogan 2:42 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 2:42 He's a, he's really good in Japanese style, he's ... And he's r- like a mile from my house-

Joe Rogan 2:47 Oh, wow.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 2:47 ... in Costa Mesa.

Joe Rogan 2:48 Oh, well, Costa Mesa, that whole ... Los Angeles is amaz- that whole Southern California area is amazing for tattoos.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 2:54 Yeah. We are ... And I've been lucky in most of my tattoos. You know, some people got some tattoos that they're like they just get it because they want tattoos-

Joe Rogan 3:01 Right.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 3:01 ... and then they're shit.

Joe Rogan 3:02 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 3:03 I'm lucky. Every, even what, everything I got in Ecuador it's, it's just clean and, uh, it's all what I want.

Joe Rogan 3:09 How much of it did you get in Ecuador?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 3:11 I get, m- basically all this arm. Mark Nava did just the snake and the spider in the back. Then the rest is all in Ecuador. All these arms is in Ecuador besides the hand.

Joe Rogan 3:25 Hmm.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 3:25 This is Shawn Topper, another good guy in, in, around in Costa Mesa area. Then my back, Mister Cartoon.

Joe Rogan 3:31 Having a back piece like your back piece, um, we just filmed it, we just took a video of it before the podcast, but Mister Cartoon-

Marlon "Chito" Vera 3:38 That's a bad motherfucker.

Joe Rogan 3:38 ... that guy's a legend.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 3:41 Of all-

Joe Rogan 3:42 Legend.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 3:42 Of all my tattoos, that's, that's number-

Joe Rogan 3:45 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 3:45 That's number one. It has to be.

Joe Rogan 3:46 How hard was it to get in with him?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 3:48 Well, every time he, he, he's, he's like kind of like he works with, with Ruka, with the brand.

Joe Rogan 3:53 Oh, okay.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 3:54 So he comes visit Pat all the time. So every time he comes around, I'm like, "Come on, dude."

Joe Rogan 3:59 (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 4:00 "Come on, dude. Get me in." And he's like he's pretty chill, you know.

Joe Rogan 4:04 Is he?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 4:05 And, and ... Yeah, he's pretty cool. And then-

Joe Rogan 4:07 Nice.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 4:07 ... he's like, "Okay, talk to my assistant." And I just harassed the fuck out of this guy, I'm like, "Yo, get me in." And basically he wasn't tattooing during the pandemic. He wasn't doing nothing.

Joe Rogan 4:17 Really?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 4:18 And I was his first tattoo back.

Joe Rogan 4:19 Oh, wow.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 4:20 So-

Joe Rogan 4:21 So he's just chilling?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 4:21 He's just chilling.

Joe Rogan 4:23 Wow.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 4:23 I guess he can chill at this point, right?

Joe Rogan 4:24 Oh, yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 4:25 He's a bad motherfucker.

Joe Rogan 4:26 He's a bad motherfucker.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 4:27 He don't need to tattoo more people.

Joe Rogan 4:29 No.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 4:29 So I'm glad he tattooed me.

Joe Rogan 4:30 That's amazing that he did. Yeah, when you get a guy like that, man, God, that's a, he's just a legend.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 4:35 He's a legend.

Joe Rogan 4:36 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 4:36 And I'm gonna f- keep finishing my back because I got spots in the sides I'm gonna finish with him.

Joe Rogan 4:41 Did you do it at his studio?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 4:43 Yeah, in Santa Monica.

Joe Rogan 4:44 Does he have, does he have pictures on his walls of all the people that he's tattooed?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 4:47 Dude, when I was there, I was tripping. There's like Eminem in one side.

Joe Rogan 4:51 (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 4:51 Then s- all the art they have, they have like a barber shop that he owns next, like literally next door and, uh, the, the seats are like from the '80s, like original.

Joe Rogan 5:01 Oh, wow.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 5:02 Paint by him. I was like, "Wow, this guy's tattooing me."

Joe Rogan 5:05 Wow.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 5:05 So when I get to the shop, he's like, "Do you wanna smoke?" I'm like, "Fuck yeah."

Joe Rogan 5:08 (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 5:09 He give me a joint of the ... I don't know what he's smoking. And I was like, "Bro, this is strong." "It's pure gasoline, brother." (laughs)

Joe Rogan 5:15 (laughs) Pure gasoline.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 5:17 When, when he started tattooing me, I was just like, I was way too high.

Joe Rogan 5:21 Ah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 5:22 I was way too high.

Joe Rogan 5:22 It's sensitive when you're high, right? Do you feel it more?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 5:24 Oh, I was ... That's why I was freaking out.

Joe Rogan 5:27 Yeah. When I'm, uh, uh, drinking though, drinking you barely feel shit.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 5:30 I never drink during tattoo.

Joe Rogan 5:32 Really?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 5:32 Never.

Joe Rogan 5:33 I have.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 5:34 I might start doing that now.

Joe Rogan 5:35 Yeah, it's a good move-

Marlon "Chito" Vera 5:36 Because-

Joe Rogan 5:36 ... because it dulls the pain quite a bit.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 5:38 ... I definitely smoke all the time I get a tattoo and that's now.

Joe Rogan 5:42 I think that would hurt.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 5:42 Oh, it hurts.

Joe Rogan 5:43 More.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 5:44 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 5:44 'Cause you're like you're super sensitive when you're high.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 5:46 You're sensitive and then you're like you feel your heart rate going up and then-

Joe Rogan 5:49 Yeah. (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 5:50 ... it's the, the pain hurts. And then because sometimes when I'm sober, uh, my heart rate goes high because your body's going through some shit.

Joe Rogan 5:56 Yeah, man.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 5:56 You want to t-

Joe Rogan 5:57 Your, uh, your body's also like, "Hey, bitch, run away from this pain."

Marlon "Chito" Vera 6:00 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 6:00 "Why are you sitting still?"

Marlon "Chito" Vera 6:02 When the, when, when I did, when I got my neck done, that was when I was like, "I need to get the fuck out of here."

Joe Rogan 6:07 How, is the neck the most painful?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 6:09 The throat is pretty fucked up.

Joe Rogan 6:11 Oof.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 6:11 Every time you swallow, good luck.

Joe Rogan 6:12 (gurgles)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 6:13 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 6:13 Right in there, getting in there. (growls)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 6:15 And then my head was ...... falling from the fucking table.

Joe Rogan 6:20 Oh, 'cause you have to lean back, right?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 6:22 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 6:22 Oh, my goodness.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 6:23 Yeah. So I was like, "I won't do my neck anymore."

Joe Rogan 6:25 (sighs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 6:25 "Thank God it's done."

Joe Rogan 6:26 Neck pain is weird pain, 'cause like your body's like, "This is a bad place to have pain." Like, "You shouldn't have any pain-

Marlon "Chito" Vera 6:33 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 6:34 ... around here. This is vulnerable as fuck."

Marlon "Chito" Vera 6:36 I know.

Joe Rogan 6:36 You know?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 6:36 I know. Sean Shelby, when he, when he saw my first tattoo, "You fucking idiot." And like-

Joe Rogan 6:41 Sean Shelby said that?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 6:42 Yeah. He's like, "You won't be able to get a job." I'm like, "I don't need a job. You give me job."

Joe Rogan 6:47 "You won't be able to get a job."

Marlon "Chito" Vera 6:47 I was like, "You give me job." He was mo- he was motivating me to don't be an idiot. I was like-

Joe Rogan 6:52 Oh, that's so silly.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 6:52 ... "Hey, I'm gonna be in the UFC for a long time, so."

Joe Rogan 6:54 That's such a silly thing to say. Sean Shelby, you silly goose.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 6:58 We w- we were laughing about it after the Frankie fight. He told me like, "Hey, you're good." I'm like-

Joe Rogan 7:03 (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 7:03 ... "I told you! I'm an idiot, but I told you." (laughs)

Joe Rogan 7:06 That's so silly.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 7:07 He was laughing about it.

Joe Rogan 7:09 (yawns) He's a funny guy. But, you know, that, that job makes people-

Marlon "Chito" Vera 7:14 It's not easy.

Joe Rogan 7:15 No. It makes you tense.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 7:15 You lose your fucking head.

Joe Rogan 7:16 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 7:17 Think about it, how many fights fell off and you gotta figure it out yourself.

Joe Rogan 7:20 And there's 500 fighters on the roster that are emailing him every day, trying to get a fight, and then you have to deal with crazy managers. Some managers are crazy.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 7:28 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 7:28 And some managers are great, but some managers are out of their fucking mind.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 7:31 I, uh, that's why I respect him. I don't hate him.

Joe Rogan 7:33 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 7:33 Because people say, "Fuck that guy, he don't wanna help." And I'm like, "Bro, there's like 10 idiots just like you-"

Joe Rogan 7:39 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 7:39 "... saying the same thing about him."

Joe Rogan 7:41 Mick Maynard is cool as fuck, though. He never loses his shit.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 7:44 He's newer too.

Joe Rogan 7:45 Is that what it is? But he's been around a long time. You say newer, but many years.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 7:48 But, but a ti- in the UFC.

Joe Rogan 7:50 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 7:50 Like the UFC probably has a different animal of pressure.

Joe Rogan 7:53 Yeah, but even in the UFC, Mick's been around for many years now. It's been quite a few years.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 7:59 Yeah, that's true. But Sean has been since the early days.

Joe Rogan 8:02 Yeah. Well, Joe Silva was losing his mind before he quit.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 8:05 So-

Joe Rogan 8:05 He had to quit.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 8:06 He-

Joe Rogan 8:06 As much as that guy loves the sport, he's like, "I can't do it anymore."

Marlon "Chito" Vera 8:08 He said, "Fuck off. I'm out."

Joe Rogan 8:09 "I can't fucking do it anymore." Yeah. He, he was losing his marbles.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 8:12 That's definitely, that's definitely make you lose your head.

Joe Rogan 8:15 I like when people quit, though. I like, I like when people sail off in the sunset. "See ya! I got enough money. Ta-ta for now." (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 8:21 Cha-ching. Cha-ching. Y- his fucking money signs folded and-

Joe Rogan 8:24 Yeah. It's just nice. I mean, he got paid out when the, uh, UFC got sold to Endeavor.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 8:29 Good for him.

Joe Rogan 8:29 And he's like, (claps hands) "Bye-bye."

Marlon "Chito" Vera 8:31 He's like, "Fuck off, you maniacs."

Joe Rogan 8:32 Yeah. Good for him. Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 8:34 Who wanna be around that anyway?

Joe Rogan 8:35 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 8:35 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 8:35 I ran into him once since then, and he was so happy. He looked relaxed. He looked lighter, like the weight of the world was off his shoulders.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 8:42 (laughs) Basically, the whole fucking thing is in your shoulders. Like-

Joe Rogan 8:45 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 8:45 ... a fighter's pulled off, you got them in your head like, "Who's g- who's gonna fight it? Find a replacement."

Joe Rogan 8:49 Well, you know what's crazy, is when they have guys, uh, do like a full weight camp, a full camp, and a weight cut as an alternate, just in case.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 8:59 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 8:59 I find th- I find that crazy.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 9:00 They do that with the main events.

Joe Rogan 9:01 I know. That's wild.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 9:03 When, when I fought in New York, Luke did that for Usman and Colby.

Joe Rogan 9:07 Really?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 9:07 Yeah. But he missed weight.

Joe Rogan 9:09 Oh, that's right. He did. Yeah, that's right. He did miss weight. Yeah, it's, uh, but it's hard on the body, man. Like, the, the weight cut is so bad on the body already.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 9:17 Weight cuts are like taking punch to the jaw.

Joe Rogan 9:19 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 9:20 You have so many of those.

Joe Rogan 9:21 Right.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 9:21 If you don't do it right-

Joe Rogan 9:23 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 9:23 ... you're fucked.

Joe Rogan 9:23 Even if you do it right. Like, look, Colby Covington planned for seven months for this fight. I mean, you know, it's hard. Y- you can't take it away from Kai Kara-France 'cause he landed a perfect punch and-

Marlon "Chito" Vera 9:33 Oh, Cody Garbrandt.

Joe Rogan 9:34 Yeah. What did I say?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 9:35 Colby Covington.

Joe Rogan 9:36 Oh, I'm sorry. Cody Garbrandt. It's early. I haven't had any coffee yet. Let me have some coffee with ... in my fucking brain now.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 9:40 You want some coffee?

Joe Rogan 9:42 Did I say Colby Covington? Goddamn. It's weird when you have like a thought in your head-

Marlon "Chito" Vera 9:46 I'm probably too sharp because I took mushrooms early.

Joe Rogan 9:49 ... and the wrong noise... You took what? Mushrooms early? Oh.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 9:50 That's why I'm probably sharp.

Joe Rogan 9:51 You're, you're, maybe I'm like, feeding off of you.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 9:54 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 9:54 I'm confused by your energy, your spiritual energy.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 9:56 Yeah. I'm spiritual. I'm pre- I'm like trying early mornings, I'm pretty...

Joe Rogan 10:00 Cody Garbrandt.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 10:00 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 10:00 So Cody Garbrandt dropping down to 125 pounds, and... Oh, you want some of that?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 10:04 Please, sir. Thank you. Yeah. And then I was listening to you guys when you guys were talking about it, that he did a great blah, blah, blah.

Joe Rogan 10:12 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 10:12 But-

Joe Rogan 10:13 Still.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 10:13 ... it's also energy. Like-

Joe Rogan 10:14 Mm-hmm.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 10:15 ... he's been getting KO'd many times in a row.

Joe Rogan 10:19 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 10:19 His mind probably knows, "Oh, if I get touched, I'm gonna go down."

Joe Rogan 10:24 Maybe.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 10:24 And he don't saw it coming.

Joe Rogan 10:25 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 10:25 Kai Kara-France is a great fighter, so good for him, he knock him out. But when you've been finished many times, also your mind accept it. It's like, "Nah, I've been here before. Boop, lesson learned."

Joe Rogan 10:35 Yeah, but it wa- I mean your bo- yeah. Chuck Liddell told me that, that, uh, later in his career, his mind was recognizing that he was about to take punishment, and his brain would just shut off easier. It's like your brain knows that you've been knocked out too many times.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 10:48 Yeah. And then your body knows. That's why fighters like that, they should walk away.

Joe Rogan 10:52 Yes.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 10:53 You know?

Joe Rogan 10:53 Yes.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 10:53 I'm-

Joe Rogan 10:53 You can't take a shot in the face. Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 10:54 I'm nobody to tell you what you should do, but-

Joe Rogan 10:56 Right.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 10:56 ... you probably m- most likely have to do it.

Joe Rogan 10:58 Well, it's a, it's a young man's game, and then it is a f- there's a few crafty veterans that can hang around into their 40s. The-

Marlon "Chito" Vera 11:08 My boy Glover Teixeira.

Joe Rogan 11:09 Yeah. Glover is the, uh, shining example of that. Shine-

Marlon "Chito" Vera 11:13 Because he seems so fresh.

Joe Rogan 11:14 He's amazing. And, and he's had some rough knockouts, man. Think about the Rumble knockout.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 11:19 Anthony Jackson pulled his teeth right to his gums.

Joe Rogan 11:21 Oh, my goodness. Yeah. I mean, that uppercut was spectacular. And then, you know, Gustafsson, Gustafsson put it on him, man.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 11:28 Same uppercut.

Joe Rogan 11:28 My God. And what Gustafsson, that was his best performance of his career. I mean, Gustafsson was on fire in that fight.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 11:34 He looked sharp. He was-

Joe Rogan 11:36 Oh, my God. He looked so good.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 11:37 But then Jon Jones came, meh.

Joe Rogan 11:39 Yeah. Well, j- that's, there's levels, man. There's levels.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 11:43 The, the DC, DC couldn't say better. When his, when he brought this, there's levels to this.

Joe Rogan 11:47 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 11:47 It's true.

Joe Rogan 11:48 There's levels.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 11:49 There's a, you have to stay ahead. You have to work the whole time. Some, most people only pushes when they have a contract, when they h- they, when they hear like, "Hey, you might be fighting this date." This is n- not even a sport.

Joe Rogan 12:03 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 12:03 I don't even call it... I don't think this is a sport, this is fighting.

Joe Rogan 12:05 It's fighting. Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 12:05 It's fighting. So you better be trained the whole time and just ready to go.

Joe Rogan 12:10 And when you're not in camp, you have to be improving.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 12:13 100%.

Joe Rogan 12:14 Yeah. You have to be working on things. And then there's some people that don't do that, and, you know, the camps are hard. And some people, when they get out of camp, they just wanna get fat and relax and...

Marlon "Chito" Vera 12:23 Not in, not in me.

Joe Rogan 12:24 You can't? No. Good for you, man.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 12:25 Like, Kobe Bryant said, the mamba mentality?

Joe Rogan 12:27 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 12:27 I call it the immigrant mentality. Which-

Joe Rogan 12:29 Yeah, immigrant mentality. (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 12:30 ... all fucking day-

Joe Rogan 12:32 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 12:32 ... seven days a week. There's no-

Joe Rogan 12:34 Yeah, I love that you quote Joey Diaz like that. (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 12:37 (laughs) . I love that guy.

Joe Rogan 12:39 Everybody loves Joey Diaz.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 12:40 I love when he tell the Monday video.

Joe Rogan 12:43 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 12:43 He fucking get me hard. I'm like-

Joe Rogan 12:44 He just did a new one on Julián Peña. Did you see that one?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 12:47 No, I didn't see that one.

Joe Rogan 12:48 Oh, pull it up, pull it up. It's on his Instagram. It's fucking beautiful. He was talking about how amazing Julián Peña meeting him at the news-

Marlon "Chito" Vera 12:55 He's a motherfucker with his coffee and shit.

Joe Rogan 12:56 Yeah. (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 12:56 He's like, "You motherfuckers." It's fucking Monday. If you're coming happy about your weekend, fuck off. I mean-

Joe Rogan 13:03 Yeah. Yeah, he gets fired up.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 13:04 That's a guy, that's a mentality you should fucking follow if not you're fucked.

Joe Rogan 13:07 He, he's the most unusual person I've ever met. Uh, but, um, what we were just talking about before that?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 13:13 About staying ready ever.

Joe Rogan 13:14 Yeah, staying, it's-

Marlon "Chito" Vera 13:15 There's no season.

Joe Rogan 13:16 There's no season.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 13:17 There's no season, man.

Joe Rogan 13:17 And there's also these moments where you get called, like, like for example, this is not MMA, but it's boxing. Uh, this Jake Paul, uh, Tyron Woodley rematch, which is this weekend. Tyron just got the call. I think it was, like, 15, 16 days out, something like that, and there's not that many days.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 13:35 Almost guarantee he wasn't ready.

Joe Rogan 13:36 Psh. Oh, yeah, I mean, I can't imagine that he was training in a full camp.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 13:40 Like, when I'm not in camp, I'm Monday through Friday in the gym. In the weekends, I'm going long distance. I'm going 13, 15 miles.

Joe Rogan 13:49 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 13:49 And then out of camp is when I ask the Jiu-Jitsu coach like, "Hey, I've been having issues here," or the wrestling coach how to defend this. When you're in camp, there's not many time to get better.

Joe Rogan 14:00 Right.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 14:01 You just get your mind set. You listen to your head coach. Your body should be fit by then. But out of camp is when you're adding tools, when you're, like, getting new, new guns, new bullets.

Joe Rogan 14:12 Did you ever see, uh, when BJ Penn was training with Marv Marinovitch?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 14:16 Yeah. I, I ha- he told me a lot about it.

Joe Rogan 14:19 Yeah?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 14:20 And Parillo told me too. He was... What I, what, what I heard about it, it was like, it was all about-

Joe Rogan 14:26 Cardio.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 14:27 ... three, four seconds, three, four seconds.

Joe Rogan 14:29 Yeah, yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 14:30 All ex-

Joe Rogan 14:30 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 14:30 But that's why he have a great first round.

Joe Rogan 14:32 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 14:32 And then he's no longer-

Joe Rogan 14:34 Well, no, not necessarily. You know, that was when he beat Sean Sherk. That was when he beat, um... Who else would he fight?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 14:40 Diego Sánchez with the head kick.

Joe Rogan 14:42 Diego Sánchez, that's right. Like those, those fights were when he was supremely conditioned. But the, the point was their idea was you already know how to fight.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 14:51 Yes.

Joe Rogan 14:51 This is... The camp is not for fighting. The camp is for physical preparation. So to get yourself in peak condition-

Marlon "Chito" Vera 14:58 Like, I can-

Joe Rogan 14:58 ... that was what they thought.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 14:59 I can talk because I'm in that camp. I'm with Parillo. So they were focusing a lot on explosiveness.

Joe Rogan 15:06 Mm-hmm.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 15:06 Explosions. But then what about the long distance? Like that's what Parillo says, "It's not about sprint, it's not about intervals, it's not about long distance. It's about the three of them." And that's one thing I, I add from him because he like me to sprint. He like his sprints. Me personally, my favorite thing is go over 15 miles, just run almost three hours, like just go.

Joe Rogan 15:30 Why do you like doing that?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 15:31 Because my mind gets so sharp. I'm thinking. I'm, I'm, I'm visualizing. I'm, I'm thinking on... I'm seeing the future. I'm like... I basically, I'm thinking on what I want, how I wanna get it done. But then also you gotta be able to keep yourself active for that long, because when you do intervals, like last night I did a sprint, like fast, like 12 mi- like 12 miles per hour, two minutes. I did like six, six rounds like that. It's hard as fuck. Your heart is gonna get out of your chest, but you know it's two minutes. You know it's gonna end. So it's almost like you teach yourself to stop here. When, when I do my long distance, there's no, "It's almost done."

Joe Rogan 16:11 Right.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 16:11 Because when I go, when I, when I go six, seven miles to the left, I know I gotta come back.

Joe Rogan 16:16 Right. Right, right.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 16:17 So I like, I like everything. All of this work because one, it help me being explosive, help me being fast, but the other one in the, in, in the championship rounds is gonna show.

Joe Rogan 16:29 Mmm.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 16:29 And you don't get this overnight. I don't start running and get to 13 miles in a week. It took me months to get there. Now I do 13, 15 whenever I want. But also I don't stop using it.

Joe Rogan 16:43 Right.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 16:43 Parillo always said, "You don't use it, you lose it."

Joe Rogan 16:46 Right.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 16:46 So you gotta come back to the basics. You gotta keep doing. That's why I say it's not seasonal. It's, it's never ending.

Joe Rogan 16:51 When you're in camp, do you run long distances?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 16:54 They stop me to do it.

Joe Rogan 16:55 Yeah?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 16:56 Because they're like, "Hey, okay, four weeks out, forget about it. Now we have to be fast and explosive." Which I listen to my team, that's why I'm winning.

Joe Rogan 17:05 And you already have the cardio base?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 17:06 I already have the... The low base has been done the whole year. On camp, I just focus on be quick and be sharp and be ready to go.

Joe Rogan 17:15 When you started in Ecuador, what kind of facilities were available?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 17:20 Nothing.

Joe Rogan 17:21 Nothing?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 17:21 I was training on living rooms-

Joe Rogan 17:23 No.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 17:23 ... with mats. Like, let's say you, you move this table-

Joe Rogan 17:26 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 17:26 ... we put mats, and we go jab, cross, hook, back, and forth.

Joe Rogan 17:29 Really?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 17:30 There was nothing.

Joe Rogan 17:31 What made, what motivated you to get into it?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 17:33 This is the crazy thing. This go backs when I'm a, I'm a four-year-old kid in Ecuador in this town called Chone. I was fighting on the street, the homeless kids that they clean shoes for money or they sell, they, they sell, like, Chiclets or cigarette. My brother used to call these kids, give him couple bucks to fight me. For fun.

Joe Rogan 17:51 (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 17:52 Like the, like the fucking circus. And I love it. Like there's not a time...

Joe Rogan 17:56 This is when you were four?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 17:57 I was a kid, five, four, yes. They used to make me fight just for fun.

Joe Rogan 18:01 Wow.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 18:02 And they would laugh about it. And then if I lose, they get mad.

Joe Rogan 18:06 (laughs) What?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 18:06 But I used to ask for it. I'm like, "Bro, I wanna fight today." It was like, that was like instead of go play soccer, that was for me.

Joe Rogan 18:14 And it was fight MMA?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 18:15 No, it was a, it was a street fight.

Joe Rogan 18:17 Right, just...

Marlon "Chito" Vera 18:18 Just scrap.

Joe Rogan 18:19 But, but no rules, no gloves?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 18:21 Of course, don't bite, don't-

Joe Rogan 18:22 Don't bite.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 18:23 ... don't do crazy shit, but...

Joe Rogan 18:23 Did you guys discuss this beforehand?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 18:25 No, we just fight. Punches. Well, I guess we were gentlemen, punches and kicks.

Joe Rogan 18:30 (laughs) Gentlemen.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 18:30 (laughs) (dramatic music plays) ... uh, they used to make me fight. So they would be like, "Okay, we found this kid to fight him," I was like, "Right now?" "Yeah, you're ... Don't be a fucking pussy," I was like, "Okay, whatever."

Joe Rogan 18:42 Wow.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 18:42 But that was just for fun. But then when I started growing up, I wasn't an aggressive, uh, an aggressive person, but I always had been looking for a fight. It w- ... I don't know what was there. Maybe it was Chuck Norris.

Joe Rogan 18:53 Chuck Norris got you into it? (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 18:54 Oh, yeah. Oh. Oh, yeah. You remember Walker Ryan of Texas?

Joe Rogan 18:57 Yes.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 18:57 That was my shit. Cowboy boots, hat.

Joe Rogan 19:00 (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 19:00 And I would wanna fight every bad person.

Joe Rogan 19:02 Did you wear cowboy boots and the hat?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 19:04 Oh.

Joe Rogan 19:05 (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 19:05 Growing up, I was a cowboy. My dad have a farm since I remember.

Joe Rogan 19:09 Oh, yeah?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 19:10 Cows, everything.

Joe Rogan 19:12 Oh, wow.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 19:13 So it's just the environment I grew up. It was weird. It was all, like, man shit, wake up at 3:00 in the morning, pick up the cows. And I don't have to do that. I was doing it for fun. Like, the employee would pick me up at 3:00 in the morning, "Hey, Chito," and I just jump on his horse. He took me. My dad wake up with a cup of coffee, and I was like, "Hmm." It was working, but in my mind, I was just having fun.

Joe Rogan 19:37 Oh, okay.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 19:37 So-

Joe Rogan 19:38 So you enjoyed it?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 19:39 Oh, I love it. If I retire right now, I can go back to Ecuador and just work for my dad in the farm, be live for the rest of my life, be happy.

Joe Rogan 19:45 That's what you would do?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 19:46 Oh-

Joe Rogan 19:46 Do you think that's what you'll do when you retire?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 19:48 I don't know. I got three kids. They basically are-

Joe Rogan 19:52 American style.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 19:52 Ame- Americans. They're from here.

Joe Rogan 19:53 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 19:54 I don't think there's a way back for me because when ... by the time they're 15, I can't be like, "Yo, let's be ... Let's ... Daddy wanna be happy in Ecuador."

Joe Rogan 20:01 (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 20:01 They're gonna be, "Fuck off, we're from California, dude."

Joe Rogan 20:04 Yeah, right.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 20:05 It's gonna be hard to bring them back.

Joe Rogan 20:06 Yeah, unless California goes crazy.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 20:08 Unless California keep getting-

Joe Rogan 20:09 Unless what's happening in Los Angeles makes its way to where you are.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 20:12 Then I'm fucked.

Joe Rogan 20:14 (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 20:14 Then I'm out of the ... Then I'll come here to Texas.

Joe Rogan 20:16 (laughs) Yeah, a lot of people are doing that.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 20:19 And I can wear my cowboy hat here, or my cowboy-

Joe Rogan 20:21 Oh, you blend right in. (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 20:22 I, I, I, I bought yesterday a pair of boots.

Joe Rogan 20:25 Oh yeah, where'd you go?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 20:26 Allen Boots.

Joe Rogan 20:26 Oh, Allen Boots. Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 20:27 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 20:27 Yeah, yeah, yeah, on Congress, right?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 20:29 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 20:29 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 20:29 When I saw it, I was like, "Holy fuck, these things are beautiful."

Joe Rogan 20:31 Oh, it's a br- ... That's a great place.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 20:33 But now, you know, I live in Cali. I live like a little hipster, cut pants, colorful shit.

Joe Rogan 20:38 Yeah, you look like a hippie, man.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 20:39 I know.

Joe Rogan 20:40 Look at you, you got tie-dye on and everything. (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 20:41 All the time. But if you ... if that's, that's wha- ... That, that's where I come from. I don't forget that. It's still in my soul. Like if I see a horse, I get happy. I wanna ride it.

Joe Rogan 20:51 Oh, really?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 20:52 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 20:53 Now, when you were little and your, your brothers are having you fight and you were fighting these homeless people, did you have any kind of training?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 21:01 Zero.

Joe Rogan 21:02 Zero?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 21:02 Zero. So they were like, just for fun, tough people, "Hey, kid, come on, fight." There was not, like, a bad blood or bad energy.

Joe Rogan 21:10 Right.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 21:10 It was just like, "Hey." Just scrap.

Joe Rogan 21:11 For fun?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 21:12 For fun. Like, or they would put boxing gloves, that sometimes they were, like, a sock with a bunch of socks inside, that was a boxing glove.

Joe Rogan 21:19 Oh my God.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 21:20 And my brother used to be like, "Come on, let me teach you." And that sock move, you get punched with the fist, right? Both black eyes. My mom came home, "What happened?" "Oh, my brother beat the fuck out of me. He was teaching me boxing." He don't know shit. He was just telling me like, "Hey, come on, punch it with me," and then the socks would move and he will-

Joe Rogan 21:37 And he will just get straight knuckles.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 21:38 Straight knuckles in my face.

Joe Rogan 21:40 (sighs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 21:40 But then by the time I was like seven or eight, there was a karate school right in front of my house. I would beg my mom, "Please, please, please." Like, literally, you can walk there. And she was like, "No, I don't, I don't like fighting," blah, blah. You know, typical mom. One day she agree, "Okay, let's go." They pay for the month, I get my kimono. They show me, like, jab, cross, spinning wheel kick. The next day in the school, I tell my friend. It wasn't even a fight, just, "Hey, s- stand there, let me show what I learned." One, two, spinning wheel kick to the stomach.

Joe Rogan 22:11 (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 22:11 The kid was crying. Karate was gone.

Joe Rogan 22:14 (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 22:14 Karate was fucking gone. "I fucking told you. You punch your f-" I'm like, "I didn't do it because I'm a bad kid. I wanna, I wanna show them what I learned." But I, I kick him like he was a boxing bag. I just went full blast. Jab, crosses-

Joe Rogan 22:26 Oh, no.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 22:26 ... spinning to the stomach. That kid was crying. And then my mom was like, "That's a wrap, no more."

Joe Rogan 22:33 (sighs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 22:33 So they never let me train. I would beg them for training.

Joe Rogan 22:36 So when did you first start formally training?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 22:38 I ... When I was 16 years old, my, my neighbor told me, like, "Yo, there's this Jiu-Jitsu gym, it's really good. I know you like fighting. I know you fighting all the time. You should come. That will probably calm you down."

Joe Rogan 22:51 "That'll calm you down."

Marlon "Chito" Vera 22:52 I went with him one day. I pay for the full month, like, right away. No, no, not try class, not nothing. Since that day until today, yo, I haven't stopped training.

Joe Rogan 23:04 Wow.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 23:05 But my family, I, I get it why they never support me at the beginning. They were like, "Nah." They thought I was a boy in college. I was just, I was just different, you know. My, my sister and my brother, they graduate from high school, straight to college. Both have their degree, normal people, smart people. I wasn't the case. I was getting in trouble all the time, you know, cops, school. Everywhere I go, there was an issue.

Joe Rogan 23:32 (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 23:32 My group of friends were fucking maniacs. No- ... That didn't help either. So when I started fighting, and I said, "Okay, no more crazy life, no more bullshit, I wanna fight," they were like, "Oh, no. No, we don't want ... If you get better at this, you're gonna hurt people. You're, you're a dumbass. We don't want this for you." And I was like, "No, if I start doing this, it's because I really want it." They didn't believe it, but it's because all the bad things I already did come until this point. By the moment I started training, everything around my life stopped. Like, no more party, no more outside life, no more skateboarding, no more surfing. I left everything and I focused on Jiu-Jitsu to become a fighter. And since that day I touch that gym, never stopped coming.

Joe Rogan 24:16 And this was, this place in Ecuador, who was running it?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 24:19 It is, uh ... My first Jiu-Jitsu coach is, uh, Fernando Soluso. These guys came from Fabio Wargiel in Brazil.

Joe Rogan 24:25 Oh, wow.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 24:26 So he came from ... This guy is legit.

Joe Rogan 24:28 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 24:28 He came from the times, like, when Marcelo Garcia, Galbau, all those guys were competing, he came from the same, like, the same age. So he came from a good group. Demian, he's really close to Demian, like, very close.

Joe Rogan 24:42 Oh, wow.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 24:42 So he came to Ecuador to decide to open a school and-He put Jiu-Jitsu on the map because, because he came from Brazil. If he would have never came-

Joe Rogan 24:52 Why did he decide to go to Ecuador?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 24:54 I have no idea. He just came one day and never left.

Joe Rogan 24:57 Wow.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 24:58 And until this day, he's still teaching. And he was fighting too. He was fighting to show people that, "Look, I'm not that good in the striking, but with my Jiu-Jitsu, I can win fights." And for me, I was like, "It's in road. I wanna come and do this." But before he get to know who I am, I come to the gym and say, "Hey, man, my name is Chito. I wanna be a UFC fighter." He's like, "Fuck off, kid." He's like, "What do you train? Are you a boxer? Are you a kickboxer?" I'm like, "No, I'm nothing, but I wanna be a UFC fighter." So I came saying that to everybody, "I wanna be a, a UFC fighter," and people just laugh about it, like, "Dude, you're nothing. You never trained your life." "It doesn't matter, I wanna be a UFC fighter." And my first ... the first day I show up to school, that was it. And then the m- the year later, I graduated from high school, I was coming twice a day, every day. It's almost like being in a world like, "Fuck off, kid, we don't want you here. You're, like, annoying."

Joe Rogan 25:53 (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 25:53 I never stopped coming. Until this day, I never stopped.

Joe Rogan 25:57 That's amazing. Well, you had a vision.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 25:59 I, I just saw the UFC, I saw Pray FC, I saw Strikeforce, and I was like, "Wait a minute, I don't need to go to college."

Joe Rogan 26:06 (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 26:07 That's it.

Joe Rogan 26:08 Did you ... Well, do you remember the first event that you saw?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 26:11 Yes, it was GSP. I watched a lot of old, old ones, but live, it was GSP-Koscheck, if I'm not wrong. The first one.

Joe Rogan 26:19 GSP-Josh Koscheck.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 26:21 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 26:21 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 26:21 And I told myself, "I wanna be like that guy."

Joe Rogan 26:23 That was a rough one, 'cause Koscheck got that broken orbital and his eye swole up.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 26:28 I think that was the second one.

Joe Rogan 26:29 Was it?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 26:29 Yeah. I'm a nerd. Jamie, tell us.

Joe Rogan 26:33 GSP and Koscheck fought twice.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 26:35 Yeah. One was the Ultimate Fighter and the other one was the regular one, if I'm not wrong.

Joe Rogan 26:40 The regular one is not the one you saw? You saw The Ultimate Fighter one?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 26:44 I think-

Joe Rogan 26:44 Which one did you see?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 26:45 If I'm not wrong, the, the, the orbital with the, with the front, Superman, was the second one.

Joe Rogan 26:51 Yes, it was the second one.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 26:53 Yeah, I watched the first one.

Joe Rogan 26:54 Oh, okay.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 26:54 That's the one that get me like, "Oh, wow, look at the guy. I wanna be like that-

Joe Rogan 26:57 Mm.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 26:57 ... when I grow up." And also, I started shaving my head. I shaved my head the first ten ... even my UFC debut, I had a, a full-on shaved head, like just like that.

Joe Rogan 27:07 I can't remember, um, Josh Koscheck's first fight with GSP.

Young Jamie 27:12 It was UFC 74.

Joe Rogan 27:14 Was ... You got an image of it?

Young Jamie 27:16 Uh, no, I was trying to find the images. I just have the date-

Joe Rogan 27:17 God, I don't remember that fight.

Young Jamie 27:19 ... popped up. Uh-huh.

Joe Rogan 27:19 I'm trying to remember that fight.

Young Jamie 27:20 He was Ultimate Fighter finale.

Joe Rogan 27:23 What happened?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 27:25 Decision, both.

Joe Rogan 27:25 Decision? Both of them decision, right?

Young Jamie 27:27 Yeah, it was a decision, yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 27:28 Dec-

Joe Rogan 27:28 The second one was a rough one. That was the one where Koscheck-

Marlon "Chito" Vera 27:31 Mm.

Joe Rogan 27:31 It was fucked up, because he couldn't even fly. He had to get his, his eye operated on, and I, I believe they drove, 'cause I-

Marlon "Chito" Vera 27:38 Yeah. Superman, Superman, Superman.

Joe Rogan 27:39 I think that was Montreal, right?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 27:41 Should be.

Joe Rogan 27:41 Or was it Toronto?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 27:42 Should be, because the first one was a small one.

Joe Rogan 27:44 (clicks tongue) It was either Montreal or Toronto, but he had to dri- ... I remember it was Canada. It might've been ... Was that the one where he fought in front of 60,000 people at the Rogers Centre?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 27:54 It was huge.

Joe Rogan 27:55 Yeah. That one.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 27:56 One of those.

Joe Rogan 27:56 That one was crazy.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 27:58 And I, I ... Being a kid from Ecuador, I told myself, "I wanna be that and have an entire fucking nation just screaming for myself."

Joe Rogan 28:05 Mm.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 28:06 Because it just ... He inspire me in a good way, like I was like, "I wanna be that."

Joe Rogan 28:12 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 28:13 Like, almost, like, teach me how to win fights, just be watching him over and I was like, "Fuck, I wanna be like this guy." But then I would, like, watch WEC, Pray FC, I w- like, I was just a, uh, f- so much of a big fan of the sport that that helped me become a pro fighter easily.

Joe Rogan 28:30 So you were in Ecuador, you were training Jiu-Jitsu. When did you have your first fight?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 28:35 Literally a year after the first day I step in the gym. I was at Blue Bell, I was training a little bit of kickboxing, and this guy came, like, "Hey, somebody get hurt. You wanna fight?" And I was like, "Okay, who's this other guy?" He's like, "Oh, he's a kid like you, he practice kickboxing. You're a kid, you do Jiu-Jitsu. It's gonna be fun." I fly to Quito, the capital, with one of my friends. I have to make my mom sign a contract, because of course, um, I was underage. I told my mom it was a Jiu-Jitsu tournament.

Joe Rogan 29:06 (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 29:06 Lady didn't read, she signed it. I flew to Quito, and then I was like, "What, what the fuck I'm doing here?" It was, like, it was a mechanic, a car mechanic. They put a rope with a bunch of, uh, sheets so you don't see the mechanic's eye. They put, uh ... they put four walls, like making a f- a cage. It looks like a rooster cage.

Joe Rogan 29:28 (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 29:29 The ground was the mats, the squares? They have, like, the, like, the cookies.

Joe Rogan 29:33 Mm-hmm. Puzzle? Puzzle mats?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 29:33 Yeah, the puzzle mats. And a fucking metal cage.

Joe Rogan 29:38 Whoa.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 29:38 The metal was going like that, so if you get too close to the cage, you're cut.

Joe Rogan 29:42 Really?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 29:43 Yes. And then I was like, "Okay, there's no weigh-ins, there's no locker room." It's a fucking mechanic. It's k- k- ... Quito, the capital, is cold too. There's no heater. I show up with a fucking hoodie and my shorts. I was like, "What a ... What the fuck I'm doing here?" I was like, "Okay, who's my opponent? I don't see no kids in here, all grown men with tattoos looking mean." And then I ask the guy that contact me for the fight, I'm like, "Yo, who I'm fighting?" "See the guy there with the dread?" I was like, "He's not a fucking kid." He's like, "Ah, it's okay, you should be fine." And we're in the main event, I didn't knew shit.

Joe Rogan 30:20 You're the main event?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 30:21 Yeah, but i- i- it's, it's a ... This is not licensed.

Joe Rogan 30:25 Right.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 30:25 This, this is a homie making fights in the, in, in the back of the mechanic.

Joe Rogan 30:28 Right.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 30:28 So I wrap my hands with, with just regular hand wraps, put it on. I don't have a mouthpiece with me. They go out to buy one, boil it, put it in my mouth, and then, "Okay, it's your turn. Go." No warmup, no nothing. No, no nothing. I was a Jiu-Jitsu kid showing up to this MMA show.This fucker throw a spinning wheel to my face. I close my eyes and shoot a double leg, and that thing just touch my hair, and I was like, "Okay. I'm not gonna f- strike with this guy because I don't know how to strike." So, for one round I tried to take him down over and over and over, and Q2 is like, just like Mexico City, it's high altitude. First round's over, my throat and my lungs were dry. I told my friend like, "Bro, what the fuck? I don't wanna be here." He's like, "No, you there. Don't be a fucking pussy. Go and fight." I'm like, "What should I do?" "Just keep taking him down. Jiu-jitsu wins all the time." He, that's what he told me, and I was like, "Okay, I guess you're right." Went back in the second round, take him down, armbar him. When I tap him out, there is no feeling like that. That was my first MMA win. I was the most high natural drug I ever took in my life, was winning that day by armbar. And I told myself, "I will put everything on the world that affects to be a good athlete aside." And since that day, I started training like, like a manic, like nonstop.

Joe Rogan 31:56 So, everything that could possibly get in the way of that, you put that aside?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 31:59 Everything. Everything.

Joe Rogan 32:00 Everything. Partying, fun.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 32:01 Like, "Hey bro, there's a good thing tonight."

Joe Rogan 32:03 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 32:03 No. Like, my girlfriend, which is my wife now, she wa- she knew, like, I was like, it was fighting.

Joe Rogan 32:10 Obsessed.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 32:10 I was obsessed. I wa- I'm gonna make it to the UFC. And here we are.

Joe Rogan 32:14 And where, were you tr- you said you weren't training very much striking. Did you start training striking after that?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 32:19 So, the, this jiu jit- Fernando Soluço have like a kickboxing coach on the side that he would use for himself and some other guys, and I started training with them in the MMA class in the mornings. So these guys, like, have some, uh, some kickboxing skills and also was, like, a brown belt at the time in jiu-jitsu. So, he would put together some classes, but MMA class was shin- shinguards and gloves, just beat the shit out of each other.

Joe Rogan 32:45 So there was no, like, strategy, technique?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 32:47 Oh, no. Like, the technique back then was like, high kick back and forth.

Joe Rogan 32:52 Mm-hmm.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 32:52 Five minute rounds.

Joe Rogan 32:53 (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 32:54 Okay, f- uh, switch kick back and forth. Jab back re- like, you know, it's like, it was a beginner class.

Joe Rogan 33:00 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 33:00 And back then MMA was blind in Ecuador.

Joe Rogan 33:03 And what year was this?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 33:05 This is 2012.

Joe Rogan 33:08 2012?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 33:08 2011, yeah. This is, uh, because I make my UFC debut 2014. Oh, this is way before then. Fuck, it's a long time ago.

Joe Rogan 33:17 (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 33:17 So, it was, the jiu-jitsu was legit. People were winning in Brazil, people were winning in the US in the Pan Ams, in the worlds, but MMA was the, was, it was blind.

Joe Rogan 33:27 Did you have to combine the stuff yourself? Like the transitions between the kicks and punches and the take downs? Or did they have any strategy for that?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 33:34 Well, the jiu-jitsu coach, Fernando, he would be like, "Okay, jab to the take down. Jab cross hoo to the take down." Like, you know, like very old school basic.

Joe Rogan 33:42 Right.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 33:43 You know, if, if somebody throw the low kick, run the take down. Or we will do days that we only sparring the wall, trying to take somebody down. But it wasn't like, like what I have right now, like a full on class technique, you do this, you have to do that. There was no experience. This guy, Soluço, he was a fighter himself but he was winning with jiu-jitsu.

Joe Rogan 34:03 Mm-hmm.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 34:04 He was going full on take down and submit the guy as soon as he get down. Couple fights he couldn't take the guy down, they were bad fights for him.

Joe Rogan 34:11 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 34:12 But it was just the old days. This is like-

Joe Rogan 34:15 The old days, yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 34:15 ... MMA wasn't big in, in, in Ecuador. Nobody would see the UFC.

Joe Rogan 34:20 So, did, they didn't know what you were trying to do?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 34:22 When I told my dad I wanna be a UFC fighter, he was like, "UFC? What the fuck is that?" And I was like, "UFC is on TV." He's like, "There's a lot of things in TV, kid."

Joe Rogan 34:34 (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 34:34 And I was like, "You don't get it." Like, it was just not popular. It was hard to support a kid that wanna do that. It was just like, "What is that? UFC? Oh, cage fighting? Oh, awesome." So, you, we basically figured it out in the process. That's why by the time the UFC contact me to send me to Albuquerque to the Latin American program with all the, with all, all, with Yair, with all the Mexicans-

Joe Rogan 35:01 Yeah. What year was that?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 35:02 That was 2014.

Joe Rogan 35:03 So, only a couple years into your, your, your fighting career at all?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 35:08 I was six and one.

Joe Rogan 35:10 Wow.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 35:11 And I have 19 fights in the UFC right now.

Joe Rogan 35:14 Wow.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 35:15 So I triple, I almost triple my, my, my f- my record inside the UFC than outside. So, that's what I kind of, like, take pride on it, because most people, like, made it like me, win one, lose one, get cut.

Joe Rogan 35:26 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 35:27 Because it's, I was so young. When I make my UFC debut in Mexico, I barely knew what I was doing. I was just like... I was in Jackson for, for six months. In six months you don't get better. I was much better because I was with Jon Jones, with Cowboy, you know, even Dodson was in his prime, Holy Holm was around, so I was like, "Fuck, I'm training with all these people, I'm gonna kick ass." And then my coach from Ecuador came and he's like, "Hey, they did everything wrong. I'm gonna fix it for you." I was like, "What do you mean?" He was trying to take credit for everything. But just-

Joe Rogan 36:01 Oh.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 36:02 ... that alone fucked me in the head and I was like, "Wait a minute. I thought I was-"

Joe Rogan 36:06 What did he think they were doing wrong?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 36:09 He was just make sure he control everything. So if I lose-

Joe Rogan 36:13 Oh.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 36:13 See, Greg Jackson make you lose. If you win' Oh. ... "Oh, I fix it on fight week." Which is bu- uh, now I'm a grown man and I understand what bullshit means.

Joe Rogan 36:21 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 36:22 I was a kid back then, I was 21, you know?

Joe Rogan 36:25 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 36:25 So I was just trying to figure it out on the go.

Joe Rogan 36:28 There's a lotta coaches that do that, man.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 36:29 That didn't last much.

Joe Rogan 36:30 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 36:30 After that fight we had one more fight and I was like, I told my manager, "Hey, that's a wrap. I need to get out of Ecuador. If I, if I stay here, I'm done." Even the UFC told me, like, "Hey..." Sean, Sean basically told me, like, "I believe in you. But if you don't get out of Ecuador, you're done."

Joe Rogan 36:47 And because of your relationship with your coach?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 36:49 It was pretty shitty relationship with the coach. This is not the jiu-jitsu guy, this is the MMA guy.

Joe Rogan 36:54 Right.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 36:54 It was, it was very shitty and low level. He would like...... play tricks, play mind games, like, "Hey," like, "I see this in my dreams." I'm saying, "Oh."

Joe Rogan 37:04 He had dreams?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 37:05 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 37:05 Oh, fuck.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 37:06 Yeah, it's bullshit. But-

Joe Rogan 37:09 (sighs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 37:09 ... the sooner that... And my family was, like, telling me about it all the time, like, "Watch out, be careful. It's just weird the way, the way he control you." And I would kind of, like, put myself against my family saying, "No, you guys are wrong. He's right."

Joe Rogan 37:21 That happens a lot to guys early in their career. If they get unlucky, they can get hooked up with the wrong coach.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 37:27 He was my first MMA coach. That's why I get hooked with him, and I will believe anything he says.

Joe Rogan 37:32 Yeah. It's so common, man, that you get a talented-

Marlon "Chito" Vera 37:35 Like-

Joe Rogan 37:35 ... guy that gets hooked up with the wrong people.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 37:36 At some point, you know, he actually did help on some, on some things, but the, the amount of power he wants over me-

Joe Rogan 37:43 Mm-hmm.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 37:44 ... is what fucks everything. But that's what a low-level guy will do.

Joe Rogan 37:46 A low-level guy that sees potential in a guy like you and thinks this is his ticket. Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 37:52 You know, the moment, the moment I realized everything was shit was the moment he asked for 50%.

Joe Rogan 37:57 (gasps)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 37:58 Yes. I was... And I pay him 50-

Joe Rogan 38:01 50%?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 38:01 I pay 50% of one fight, and I end having, like, nothing in my pocket after that.

Joe Rogan 38:06 50 fucking percent?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 38:08 I know. Yeah, but-

Joe Rogan 38:09 Oh my God.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 38:10 ... those learning experience, thank God it happened early, so by the time I am right now here, I'm not getting bullshit. You know, I'm, I'm working, I'm working hard, everybody gets paid, but that also teach me a lot.

Joe Rogan 38:25 50% is crazy talk.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 38:26 Oh, it's f- Oh, it's... When I, when, when my dad, when my dad find out, he's like, "Bro, you getting raped with no condom." And I was like... I got super mad about it.

Joe Rogan 38:36 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 38:36 Because I was defending my old coach instead of, like, listen to, to them.

Joe Rogan 38:40 What did... When he said he wanted 50%, what, what, what was that conversation like? Like, what was he saying?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 38:45 Exactly, I remember I was watching fights on TV and he went and he texts me like, "Hey, I saw this interview with Ronda Rousey." This is when Ronda was on top of the world. And she said all the success is because of coach, and she pay him 50%. "So you wanna do that?" And I was like, "Yeah, sure."

Joe Rogan 39:05 (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 39:06 He had me hooked, so whatever he say, I have to accept it. But then now that I'm here today, I'm like, "Ronda wasn't paying 50%."

Joe Rogan 39:14 Yeah. That's horse shit.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 39:15 There's a standard. It's like 10%.

Joe Rogan 39:17 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 39:18 12 some camps. But all those things took me to where I am today.

Joe Rogan 39:23 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 39:24 So.

Joe Rogan 39:24 Well, it's good sometimes to be bullshitted. Like, it's good to have a bad girlfriend so you recognize what a good girlfriends are like.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 39:30 True.

Joe Rogan 39:30 It's good, it's good to have a bad manager so you realize what a good one's like.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 39:33 It's true. No.

Joe Rogan 39:34 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 39:34 So everything happen... You know, they say it's kind of silly, everything happen for a reason.

Joe Rogan 39:39 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 39:39 You also, you are also an idiot for let it happen to you, but you learn from that. If you learn from that, it's good.

Joe Rogan 39:46 Yeah. Yeah, everybody's an idiot at one point in their life.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 39:47 It-

Joe Rogan 39:47 I'll tell you when.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 39:48 But the problem is, when it happen twice, then you're an real idiot.

Joe Rogan 39:50 Then you're a real idiot.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 39:51 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 39:51 Well, some people just get... They, they get emotionally connected to a manager or to a, a coach, and then they, they really have a hard time breaking up with them. Like, some people, they get their hooks in deep.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 40:01 I was pretty hooked, yeah.

Joe Rogan 40:02 Yeah. It happens, man. It ha... Like, there's been world champions that have ruined their career because they had a bad coach.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 40:09 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 40:09 'Cause they, they didn't go with a real camp and they had one strategy that was winning for a while, but there's these holes in that strategy that someone recognized but they didn't.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 40:20 That's exactly... We used to think about it, you always will win from the guard with a triangle. And I have, like, six triangles, like, early. And then it's like, that's it, you just need that, that. And then you make it to the UFC, you fight some high caliber-

Joe Rogan 40:32 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 40:32 ... and then that triangle is fucking not working at all.

Joe Rogan 40:34 There's a few guys that have a technique that they just did over and over and over and over and over and over.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 40:42 And there's a point-

Joe Rogan 40:44 Did you ever see Paul Sas fight?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 40:46 I know the name, yeah.

Joe Rogan 40:47 He's got, like, 100 fucking triangle wins. He was always catching people with triangles. Like, if you got that guy on his back, you were fucked.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 40:55 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 40:56 It's a rare moment. Like, some people, they just develop this one technique that's so goddamn sharp. Remember, um, Cody McKenzie? He had the McKenzie team.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 41:05 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 41:05 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 41:06 Yeah. Like a, a high elbow.

Joe Rogan 41:07 Catch everybody in the guillotine.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 41:09 Yeah. The problem is-

Joe Rogan 41:10 Over and over and over again.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 41:10 ... when that stop working-

Joe Rogan 41:11 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 41:11 ... then you're fucked forever.

Joe Rogan 41:12 Then you're fucked. (laughs) Yeah, but it's some... It's funny how some people, how far they can get with one technique.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 41:19 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 41:20 You know?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 41:21 My first five fight, they were basically all triangle choked.

Joe Rogan 41:25 Really?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 41:26 Yeah. I have, like, six triangle chokes. I was like... One in the UFC, and then the first time I lost in the UFC, I throw, like, three triangles, didn't work, and then I was looking to the corner like, "Hey."

Joe Rogan 41:37 (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 41:37 "This is not working. What the fuck should I do now?" Because I didn't had any other technique.

Joe Rogan 41:41 So how did you get to Jackson's? Did you-

Marlon "Chito" Vera 41:44 The... I was driving, I get a call from a number that says USA, and I was like, "Weird, I'm from Ecuador."

Joe Rogan 41:51 (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 41:51 So I pick up, it's like, "Hey, Marlon. You've been selected to be in the UFC." And then I fucking almost crash. When they say UFC, my dick got hard. I was like, "What the fuck?"

Joe Rogan 42:01 So this was Ultimate Fighter...

Marlon "Chito" Vera 42:04 L- number one, LATAM.

Joe Rogan 42:05 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 42:06 So-

Joe Rogan 42:06 The first Latin American-

Marlon "Chito" Vera 42:07 Yes.

Joe Rogan 42:07 ... Ultimate Fighter.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 42:08 So it's gonna be... You're selected to go to the Ultimate Fighter, so you will have to go to Jackson's and train, and if you're good, they put you on. If you're bad, they train you until you're good and there's two options, you either make it or we just send you back. And I was getting some pictures with my friend to send to Mexico to defend my belt. I had a belt in Mexico I have to defend in December against this ex-Bellator guy. So that was a big fight, because if you win that fight against an American, you're pretty much in the UFC. It the way things work, right? Because I used to make my own fights, I used to contact every single promoter in South America, tell them I will fight for free just because I wanna let myself known to people and be in the UFC one day. So I make their, I make their job easy, because back then, you were making $500. Anyway, so don't pay me nothing, send me a flyer. With this flyer, I ask sponsors to pay for my ticket, my hotel.... and I w- go and fight, and then I'll have people get to know who I am. So I will send ... I will ... I take those pictures, send to the promoter in Mexico, and my ph- literally, the moment I send the email, my phone rings and I was like, "Hello?" "Hey, Marlon. We called regards from the UFC. You've been selected." I hit the curb. Boom!

Joe Rogan 43:25 (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 43:25 My tire explode. I was like, "UFC? Are you the fucking UFC?" And they're like, "Yeah, you've been select-" I was like, "Hey, if this is a, a joke, I'm gonna kill you."

Joe Rogan 43:34 (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 43:35 Because I was... I... Somehow my sister and my brother, they're fucking dicks-

Joe Rogan 43:39 Ah!

Marlon "Chito" Vera 43:39 ... in a good way, and I was like, "They're probably fucking with me."

Joe Rogan 43:42 Right.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 43:42 Because this is a, this is a good story. This happened-

Joe Rogan 43:46 Were they speaking to you in Spanish?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 43:48 Yes. So I was like, "Fuck, if this is my sister and my brother, I'm gonna burn them alive." But my, my dad told me, "Hey, this is the last year you have to try this. After this, you find a real job, you work for me, or you leave the house."

Joe Rogan 44:02 And you were 21 at the time?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 44:04 I was 20.

Joe Rogan 44:06 20?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 44:06 And this is Novem- this is, this is November ... Like, the last couple days of November, he told me, "You got until December. December 2nd-

Joe Rogan 44:13 Oh.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 44:13 ... is my birthday. December 1st, like, the bank is closed for you. You either work or you're fucked." And I know my dad is a hardcore old school guy. I know there's no change for that. So this was my last chance, this fight in, in, in December. I d- I don't know, sometime in December. That was my last chance to make it to the UFC. So when these people call me, this is the last week of, of November. So I was like, "Fuck, this could be my sister and my brother just fucking with me." And I hit the curb, the tire explode, I park, and I was like, "Okay. Are you real the UFC?" "Yeah, you've been selected. You, you will have to fly to Albuquerque, train, and they will ... Check your email. You have a ... You, you will have info to, to fill out, to ... for your tickets and blah, blah, blah." "Cool." This ... My, my dad was ready to, like, to stop supporting me, and I was already married. I have one daughter, so my dad was helping me to ... so I can train all day. He was, like, helping me with, with my rent, helping me with some food, but just, like, basic essentials, like, I will have to figure it out the rest. And he told me, "December 1st came, kid. You're done. You find a job and fuck that fighting dream."

Joe Rogan 45:28 S-

Marlon "Chito" Vera 45:29 I call him. "The fucking UFC called me." His parent was like, "Fuck, I'm fucked now."

Joe Rogan 45:35 (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 45:35 And I was like, "Dad, they called me. I'm gonna leave to Albuquerque, I'm gonna make it, and we will all be good. I fucking make it. I love you. Thanks for everything you did for me, blah, blah, blah." I drove straight to my wife and I was like, "Hey, I'm leaving to Albuquerque for six month." A regular wife would be like freaking out. She ... The smile on her face just make my day. I was like-

Joe Rogan 45:57 Six months?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 45:58 Six months.

Joe Rogan 45:59 Wow.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 45:59 You gotta leave. So I train for those six months there, and then the finale of the Ul- Ultimate Fight was in November when ... It was at Mercurio-Huhn in Beroun.

Joe Rogan 46:11 Hmm.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 46:12 So ...

Joe Rogan 46:13 That was Mexico City.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 46:14 Ah, yes.

Joe Rogan 46:14 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 46:15 So I ... We went to Ultimate Fighter.

Joe Rogan 46:17 I was there for that one.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 46:18 I know. That's what hurt me-

Joe Rogan 46:19 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 46:20 ... the most. Not just not winning but not getting to talk to you that day.

Joe Rogan 46:23 (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 46:23 I swear to God. I was so upset, and I, I really thought I won the fight. It was a, it was a decision, but I was like ... I th- I thought I did enough. I was kind of hype and then I was like, "Oh, shit. Whatever." That broke my heart in 20,000 pieces because it was my UFC debut. I made it to the UFC and I was like, "Fuck, I made all this and I'm a fucking loser." That r- that loss make me, like, hard in a way. Like, I was like, "Okay, no more fucking bullshit. No more weird coach. No more bullshit. No more whatever people say. I'm gonna focus so hard that one day I'm gonna go to, to be a world champion." Because it was like ... It was so much in the past. Like, even w- what my dad did for me and my family, my wife family, what they did for her to stay with a guy that wasn't making a fucking dime and just training all day like a maniac, for a good reason. So I was like, "If I get ... I make all that to come here and lose like this, I'm a fucking failure." So that right there kind of, like, give me the foundation to, "Don't be a fucking loser." Like, literally, I was so hard on myself that I was like, "I gotta get killed to lose again."

Joe Rogan 47:38 Well, you were young and it's, uh, you know?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 47:40 It was early.

Joe Rogan 47:40 That was a, that was a very close fight. It was a very close fight.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 47:44 It was early too.

Joe Rogan 47:45 Just that experience too, to, to be in Mexico City, in that huge arena, fighting in the UFC. What was that like, just to s- step into the octagon like that?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 47:54 I walk out crying that day. I was crying in the workout. I was like, I ... I was ... As a fan, as ... All I did to be there, I was like, "I'm not gonna c- I'm not gonna contain it. I'm not gonna, like, not cry so people don't see me." I was full-on crying walking to the cage.

Joe Rogan 48:10 Wow.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 48:10 Because I was fighting f- You remember that thing with my daughter for the surgery?

Joe Rogan 48:14 Yes, yes.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 48:15 And then f- you know, John Anik voice comes in the side on, on the, on the big screen, "Fighting for his daughter's smile." And I was like, "This fucking hassle right now."

Joe Rogan 48:23 (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 48:24 And I started crying. I was like, "Fuck, I wanna make this happen," because that was all ... Back then, I was making eight and eight.

Joe Rogan 48:29 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 48:29 Good luck finding 80 grand to pay that surgery.

Joe Rogan 48:32 Right.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 48:33 So you ... It was just a lot in my shoulders, and I told myself, "I will never wanna be the guy that my daughter is 18 year old and ask me, 'Why you never did it for me?'" So I was like, doing that alone was bigger than being in the UFC. I was like, "I cannot have fun yet by achieving my dream of being here. I need to get that done first," and that was my first big thing I ever did-

Joe Rogan 48:58 Wow.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 48:58 ... in my life.

Joe Rogan 48:59 That was a big thing too. That was a huge event. That event in the UFC in Mexico City, that was wild.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 49:06 It was hu- The, the ground was shaking-

Joe Rogan 49:08 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 49:09 ... when I was walking up to the cage. It was packed, and that was the very first fight of the night.There was no one soul that can get in there.

Joe Rogan 49:17 Oh, no. It was oversold. (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 49:19 It... Yeah. (laughs) It was packed.

Joe Rogan 49:22 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 49:22 That, that arena is nice too.

Joe Rogan 49:24 That was a great arena. Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 49:25 It's pretty nice.

Joe Rogan 49:26 It's hard to fight in Mexico City too. The altitude is, what is that? 7,000 feet?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 49:30 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 49:31 I think it's right around there.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 49:32 It's, it's, it's... That and Quito, but that helped me fight in Ecuador in the capital.

Joe Rogan 49:36 Mm.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 49:37 It's just as high.

Joe Rogan 49:38 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 49:38 And some-

Joe Rogan 49:40 And Albuquerque is high too, right?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 49:41 Albuquerque-

Joe Rogan 49:42 Five-

Marlon "Chito" Vera 49:42 ... is a little lower, but it's high.

Joe Rogan 49:43 ... five thousand something?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 49:44 I think I got more red blood cells than the usual human being. They told me that when I was a kid.

Joe Rogan 49:51 Really?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 49:51 In a, in a, in a... They make me blood test because I was sick and the doctor freaked out. He's like, he told my mom like, "Hey, something about cancer." I was like, "What the fuck?" I freaked out. And then when the results came out, I was like, "Okay, it's all normal. He just have double the red s- the red blood cells of a normal human."

Joe Rogan 50:08 Really? So does that translate into extra endurance?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 50:13 I will guess so (claps hands) because-

Joe Rogan 50:14 That's crazy. Uh, where does it all go? (laughs) If you have double the red... (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 50:18 (laughs) I don't know. Hey, there's a doctor talking to my mom when I was a kid. I... And I will never forget that.

Joe Rogan 50:22 Have you had a blood test recently to check to see if that's still the same?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 50:25 No.

Joe Rogan 50:26 No. You should do that. Find out if the doctor is an idiot.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 50:28 Uh, most likely he was.

Joe Rogan 50:31 (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 50:31 But I, I, I really remember it because I got scared. He's tell like... He told my mom that something's wrong with his blood. And I was like-

Joe Rogan 50:36 Oh my God.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 50:37 ... "Motherfucker, what's wrong with my blood?"

Joe Rogan 50:38 Oh, no.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 50:39 I was freaking out.

Joe Rogan 50:40 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 50:40 Because my mom took me. They found some weed on my backpack and they was like, "Make him a test." And then just from finding weed to, "Hey, something's wrong with his blood." I was like, "Wait, wait a minute."

Joe Rogan 50:52 (laughs) They thought weed is giving you cancer?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 50:54 They don't... Um, you know.

Joe Rogan 50:56 Right.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 50:57 No one knows. Ecuadorian doctors.

Joe Rogan 50:59 Yeah. Right. Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 51:00 (laughs) That was probably bad.

Joe Rogan 51:01 Yeah. Jesus Christ. Wow.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 51:03 It was, yeah. I... But the... Growing up, that's when my mom told me like, "Oh, you got more red blood cells." I'm like, "Whatever."

Joe Rogan 51:09 So when you first started training at Jackson's, what was that experience like? Like, w- how much growing did you have to do... well, how much did you have to abandon of, like, the way you fought before?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 51:19 I was a white belt.

Joe Rogan 51:21 Really?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 51:22 Rolling with black belts. I was lost. The first day of esp- That wa-... That trip to Jackson's was my first ever sparring, like real sparring, like with a real fighter in front of me.

Joe Rogan 51:34 A real professional.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 51:34 Real. I, I, I was getting dropped left and right.

Joe Rogan 51:37 Really?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 51:38 I was getting kicked in my leg, I'm flying. I was getting punched in the stomach and cr- crawling to the ground. I was like... My friends will text me like, "Hey, how's... Are you having fun? This fucking Cabo is there." I was like, "Forget about Cabo, dude. I'm getting my ass kicked by fucking... a guy that have zero amateur fight." I was getting tapped. I was getting taken down. I was getting fucking murdered in the stand up. I wasn't... I don't win a round, like, in the first 10 weeks.

Joe Rogan 52:04 Wow.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 52:05 And it was awful.

Joe Rogan 52:06 10 weeks of just getting your ass kicked.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 52:08 Ass kicked in every single practice. Even... True story. This, uh, Mike Valle, he was a striking coach there. He pulled me aside one class and he's like... He gave me this fucking dumb story like, "When I was a kid, my dream was to be a baseball player, blah, blah, blah. And one day the coach told me I should find something else."

Joe Rogan 52:29 Oh my God.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 52:29 "Because I wasn't good enough and I decided to ins- go to fighting instead of do baseball, because I was so bad there. So we recommend you to find something else."

Joe Rogan 52:39 Oh, shit.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 52:41 I look at him in the eye, dead calm, and I say, "Fuck you," and I walk away.

Joe Rogan 52:45 Whoa.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 52:46 But the only thing that I prized myself is like, I was getting my ass kicked everywhere, everywhere, in every single class. Jiu-jitsu class, tapped like a fucking clapper. Striking class, getting my ass kicked. Wrestling class, good luck. I was, I was blind everywhere, but I never stopped coming to class on time and ready to go. That never changed. Every morning, every Tuesday morning, cold mornings of sparring. 9:30, I was there warming up, ready to go. Get my ass kicked, go to the room, cry sometimes because I wa- I was realizing I suck at this. But keep coming, keep coming, keep coming.

Joe Rogan 53:27 So two and a half months in, you started to see a change?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 53:29 A little bit. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 53:32 (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 53:32 A little bit. At least I get familiar with the guys that shouldn't, shouldn't spar.

Joe Rogan 53:36 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 53:36 I was like, "You come here."

Joe Rogan 53:38 Uh...

Marlon "Chito" Vera 53:38 "You're not that good. I can, I, I can run from you." But it was r-... Like, I trained with these guys, like, for a month and then I went straight to The Ultimate Fighter.

Joe Rogan 53:48 Wow.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 53:49 So the other guys that were there, like Jair, they were Mexicans. They had their, like, a year already.

Joe Rogan 53:57 Wow.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 53:57 I was new there. I was new mid. I was there. I didn't have time to get better. You don't get better in a couple of months.

Joe Rogan 54:03 No.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 54:03 Not in MMA.

Joe Rogan 54:05 Well, I mean-

Marlon "Chito" Vera 54:05 Where you have to focus about everything.

Joe Rogan 54:07 Not... Yeah. Not when you're getting your ass kicked too. The thing is, like-

Marlon "Chito" Vera 54:10 I was getting my ass kicked.

Joe Rogan 54:12 It's hard to get better when you're getting fucked up. Like, people don't realize that. Like, one thing that Eddie Bravo told me early on, he's like, "Train with blue belts." He goes, "'Cause you could tap them all the time then you get all these reps in." He goes, "If you train with black belts, you're just defending and you're getting tapped a lot." You know?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 54:29 The Mendes, the Mendes bros told me that. I trained with them full time in Cali.

Joe Rogan 54:33 They told you that too?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 54:33 They, they... The same exact words. I came early for this part 'cause it came on Friday to train with Danaher. Same exact thing.

Joe Rogan 54:41 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 54:41 So it's like right there you got the three top three in the world.

Joe Rogan 54:45 Right.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 54:46 And if they're telling you that, it must be for a reason.

Joe Rogan 54:48 Yeah. There's a reason. It's, it's about reps and... It's also, like, you see that with young fighters, you know, if you fight... Like, that's the reason why boxing has a very smart strategy. They match you up carefully until they get you prepared for a world class opponent and then eventually for a title fight. The thing about the UFC is they'll throw guys to the wolves very early on, especially if you're willing.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 55:12 Because there's no belt system.

Joe Rogan 55:13 Right.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 55:13 And it's a boxing system.

Joe Rogan 55:15 Well, it's also because...There's a bunch of different promoters in boxing and the whole key to make the most money is get your fighter undefeated when he gets to the title shot. In the UFC, it's like they get to make the call and if they call you up and they say, "Hey Marlon, we have a fight and it's for, you know, it's a- a championship level fighter and you have four days notice. And can you make weight?" You're like, "What the fuck?" And maybe you've been-

Marlon "Chito" Vera 55:44 That happens.

Joe Rogan 55:44 ... drinking and maybe, you know. It happens all the time.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 55:48 All the time.

Joe Rogan 55:48 All the time.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 55:49 Natiez was drinking when they called him for Conor.

Joe Rogan 55:52 Yeah. Yeah, he was drinking tequila in Mexico, eating tacos.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 55:55 He said in interviews. I know.

Joe Rogan 55:55 Yeah, and then he goes, "Okay." And 11 days later, he's strangling Conor McGregor.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 56:00 I know he eats tacos, vegan tacos. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 56:02 Yeah, no. He doesn't eat vegan.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 56:03 I didn't know if he's taking care of that.

Joe Rogan 56:04 They keep saying that, that's not true. I mean, he eats eggs and fish and I mean, I don't know if he's still eating fish but he certainly was at one point in time, you know. But the vegans love to claim him. It's hilarious.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 56:16 It- it's almost like-

Joe Rogan 56:16 They love to find the one person... Because it's nonsense. They always try to find this one person who's like elite on a vegan diet.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 56:23 It doesn't exist.

Joe Rogan 56:23 They're like, "Look at Nate Diaz. Look what he's done. Look what he's done." Like-

Marlon "Chito" Vera 56:25 I remember that. And I asked him in person. I was like, I was like, "Yeah, I- I eat a lot of vegetables, but I eat a lot of things." I eat meat every day.

Joe Rogan 56:32 Do you?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 56:33 Oh, full on rebuy left and right.

Joe Rogan 56:35 Is that most of your diet?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 56:36 Like out of camp? Like out of camp, I can eat whatever I want because I keep in a certain amount of diet. I don't eat no sugar. I rarely do a cheat meal, but I eat meat every day. I do vegetable juices, avocados, like a lot of fats-

Joe Rogan 56:54 Mm-hmm.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 56:54 ... a lot of protein and some veggie juices.

Joe Rogan 56:57 Do you have a nutritionist or do you just... Yeah?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 56:59 Perfecting athletes, they- they- we've been together for like 11 fights, so they know me. They know I'm not fucking around. Like they know I'm in Texas and in the last four days, I've been eating meat, eggs, veggie juices, couple smoothies.

Joe Rogan 57:14 Always healthy.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 57:15 There's no point to go the other way.

Joe Rogan 57:17 Right, no point. It's just mouth pleasure.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 57:19 And ex- exactly.

Joe Rogan 57:20 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 57:20 The moment you swallow it, you're fucked.

Joe Rogan 57:22 Yeah, yeah. It feels good when it's in your mouth, just spit it out. Diego Sanchez-

Marlon "Chito" Vera 57:25 I do that.

Joe Rogan 57:26 ... used to do that. He used to eat meat. I mean, he had this idea that meat was bad for you, but you know, he used to chew the meat and then spit it out.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 57:34 Diego Sanchez.

Joe Rogan 57:35 He's so crazy.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 57:36 I do at least two rebuys a day.

Joe Rogan 57:38 Really?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 57:39 Oh yeah. But I eat a bunch of avocados, a bunch of fruit, a bunch of veggie juices. And then when I get a call to fight, I'm not overweight. I'm basically in shape. I just add a bunch of veggies because my meals go smaller-

Joe Rogan 57:56 Mm-hmm.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 57:56 ... and smaller and smaller towards the wei- the end of camp.

Joe Rogan 57:59 What is your weight walking around normally?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 58:01 Like 54, 53.

Joe Rogan 58:03 Okay, so you're cutting somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 pounds?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 58:06 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 58:07 Yeah. And what do you weigh like the week of the fight?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 58:10 Like 45, 48.

Joe Rogan 58:12 Okay, so 10 pounds you actually-

Marlon "Chito" Vera 58:13 I- I cut 10 to 11 pounds on Thursday night and make weight. It's not easy. I fucking deplete my body. It's awful. Uh, the first couple pounds, I'm so mad when I start because I start like even if I set my mind this time I wanna be happy. "Fuck this shit, weight cut is for pussies, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah." But then the 45ers are like three times my size.

Joe Rogan 58:35 I think there should be no weight cutting.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 58:37 No weight cutting.

Joe Rogan 58:38 I really do. I really do.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 58:39 If you call me right now, "Hey, you're fighting..." Give me any name. "This guy weights between 155, 160." Sign the contract.

Joe Rogan 58:48 Well, it's just, I think the UFC needs two things to happen. They need more weight classes and they need to stop cutting weight. Those two things need to happen.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 58:59 They-

Joe Rogan 58:59 If they had a weight class every 10 pounds, a person could adjust their diet, adjust their body fat, adjust the amount of cardio they do, and naturally bring their body to a healthy weight and know what weight class you fit in.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 59:11 Like when- when I make, when I'm cutting weight and I get to 140, I'm kind of strong. After that I'm fucked, but I know any other bantamweight is doing the same. So it's like-

Joe Rogan 59:23 Right.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 59:24 ... nobody's doing... I think I keep one of the better diet outside. But if- if you see regular fighters outside camp, they're eating cookies and fucking coca- Coca-Cola.

Joe Rogan 59:35 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 59:35 They're not eating well, most of them. Uh, the ones I know, they eating shit. I won't name them. It's not my-

Joe Rogan 59:41 It's just the whole thing is crazy 'cause it doesn't make any sense. It's the worst thing you could ever do 24 hours before you have a fight. The worst thing you could ever do is completely deplete yourself. You might as well get drunk. I mean, it's just as bad for you.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 59:53 You took all the water from your brain.

Joe Rogan 59:56 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 59:57 Then you get punched in the beer, you're gone.

Joe Rogan 59:59 And you can't even use an IV.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:00:00 You cannot.

Joe Rogan 1:00:01 You have to replenish everything dr- by drinking the fluids.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:00:04 Anyway, most- most of my... Even when IV was legal, I really use them.

Joe Rogan 1:00:08 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:00:08 Because I drink the first three, four hours. Like Perfecting Athletes told me like for each hour, 500 milligram, it will- you will fully absorb it. Because if you go crazy and you drink half a gallon, you're fucked. You just pee it out.

Joe Rogan 1:00:25 Right.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:00:25 You gotta make sure you absorb it and I'm not a doctor.

Joe Rogan 1:00:28 So you have to drink it slowly.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:00:29 They are.

Joe Rogan 1:00:29 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:00:30 But when you make weight, you're desperate. You're craving for... You will drink your own pee back then. So like they told me like, I bring one of the ladies with me on weighing day, I don't bring my coaches, and they say stop. They put a timer. Okay, I feeling good. Drink again. They bring me some eggs, some fruit, but then when I see around the fighters are just eating Pringles or salty shit, I'm like-

Joe Rogan 1:00:54 Mm-hmm.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:00:54 It just- just drive me crazy. I'm like, "What are you fucking doing?"

Joe Rogan 1:00:57 And when you weigh in, you h- how long, many hours after you weigh in do you start to feel good again?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:01:05 Like three hours later, my- my eyes are not sore anymore. I'm- my face looks normal again. But I drink, I drink for two hours just liquid. I do between watermelon juice, vegetable juices, orange juice, grape juice.... and then water. I don't stop drinking water until I leave to the arena, like-

Joe Rogan 1:01:29 And do you put anything in the water? Do you have, like, hi- uh, uh, electrolytes?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:01:33 They have... We call it, like, the natural Gatorade. We put, uh, honey, salt, and lime in a, in, in, in a full gallon, and that's my... how I rehydrate. I don't use no powders, like, no bullshit, like, it's just-

Joe Rogan 1:01:45 Right.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:01:45 But I eat this way the whole year.

Joe Rogan 1:01:48 Mm-hmm.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:01:49 Like, if I do my 30-mile run, that's what I'm drinking when I'm... when, when I'm done. And then-

Joe Rogan 1:01:54 So your body's accustomed to it-

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:01:56 I am accustomed to it.

Joe Rogan 1:01:57 ... you're accustomed to it, yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:01:57 What drive me also crazy is when a fighter cut 10, 20 pounds, then their first meal is a fucking pizza or a, or a cheeseburger. I'm like, "Holy shit."

Joe Rogan 1:02:07 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:02:07 I love to fight those guys, because you attack the stomach, it's over.

Joe Rogan 1:02:10 (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:02:10 Like, I'm not... If I'm not eating that out of camp, what make you think that's the way to recovery?

Joe Rogan 1:02:16 Right.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:02:16 I'm eating a full rib eye, lamb chops, like, all the fats I can, eggs, fruit, and I feel great. And I'm putting-

Joe Rogan 1:02:27 And when you wake up fight day, you feel 100%? Do you feel 80%? No?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:02:32 (sighs) No.

Joe Rogan 1:02:32 Not 100%?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:02:33 Yeah. I don't think... I think it's hard to feel 100% after... in 24 hours-

Joe Rogan 1:02:37 You have to wake up.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:02:37 ... you're in recovery.

Joe Rogan 1:02:38 Yeah. That's so crazy.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:02:39 It's just, like, you mentally, go... you tell yourself, like, "Hey, I'm ready to die," like, but-

Joe Rogan 1:02:43 Do you think it's possible to change MMA? I mean, what is ONE FC doing? 'Cause ONE FC has no weight cuts, right?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:02:50 Yeah. I was talking a little bit with Garry Tonon about it, and-

Joe Rogan 1:02:53 Yeah?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:02:54 They still fucking around with weight cut.

Joe Rogan 1:02:56 How they doing that?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:02:57 He explain me in a way that they test you two times, and then you have to, like... It's almost like you drink a lot of water before you cut a little bit. It's tricky. It, they, they take a little bit away, but people... Men will always find a way to be bigger-

Joe Rogan 1:03:16 Right.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:03:16 ... and cheat a little bit. Weight cutting is cheating to me.

Joe Rogan 1:03:19 Yeah, I think it's, uh, sanctioned cheating.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:03:21 It's like-

Joe Rogan 1:03:21 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:03:22 It's like if I weighed 155 in my daily basis, I fight anybody that natural weight between 150 and 160 easy, because when I'm sparring, I'm sparring guys that weigh 170 natural.

Joe Rogan 1:03:35 Right. Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:03:36 But I'm healthy too. I'm on-

Joe Rogan 1:03:39 Right.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:03:39 ... my natural weight. That's fine. So 10-pound, 10-pound gap is not an issue.

Joe Rogan 1:03:44 When you're healthy.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:03:45 When you're healthy.

Joe Rogan 1:03:46 What do you think... What percentage do you deplete yourself? Like, when you show up on fight day, you're definitely depleted because of the weight cut, but what percentage? You think you deplete yourself by 10% more?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:03:57 I think, I think I walk to the cage feeling between 85 and 90% on, o- on a 100, but it's also my lifestyle. There's, there's no drinking.

Joe Rogan 1:04:09 Right.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:04:09 There's no fucking around. I go to bed before 10:00. Like, the, the scientist that you have here a while ago-

Joe Rogan 1:04:17 Mm-hmm.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:04:17 ... the scientist doctor, like, no clothes on, leave your phone an hour before bed, don't have a full stomach.

Joe Rogan 1:04:24 Right.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:04:24 Put socks on. Be most likely-

Joe Rogan 1:04:27 Yeah, that's Matthew Walker, that, that episode.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:04:29 Shout-out to that guy.

Joe Rogan 1:04:29 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:04:29 He's a motherfucker.

Joe Rogan 1:04:30 That was a big episode.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:04:32 He changed my life.

Joe Rogan 1:04:32 A lot of... He changed a lot of people's lives.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:04:34 Like-

Joe Rogan 1:04:34 A lot of people recognize, like, the importance of sleep from that.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:04:36 I don't have a TV on my room since, and that's like three years ago. There's only TV in the living room. The, you know, the AC. I like to sleep cool, which is to say that-

Joe Rogan 1:04:49 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:04:49 But, like, it's... it's just... And then I don't really need to take a day off because of that, because you're not over-trained.

Joe Rogan 1:04:57 Right.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:04:57 If you go to sleep on bed and you don't have nightlife and you're not fucking around, you can train hard every day.

Joe Rogan 1:05:03 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:05:03 There's days that you pull a little down, then you pull back up. But if you go to bed on time and you have a clean lifestyle, you pretty much have a good longevity.

Joe Rogan 1:05:14 Well, you know, that's when the Donner, Danaher people, they all train every day.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:05:18 I train there Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday.

Joe Rogan 1:05:21 Yeah, 365 days a year. He told me, "No days off." He goes... I go, "Christmas?" "No, no days off." I, I go-

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:05:26 Me too.

Joe Rogan 1:05:26 ... "What about when you're tired?" "Train light. Just train, train easy."

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:05:30 I do that.

Joe Rogan 1:05:30 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:05:30 I train on Christmas Day, New Year's Eve. I don't really... I'm a holiday person. That's what my wife, ooh, hate about me. I'm like...

Joe Rogan 1:05:38 (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:05:38 She's like, "Christmas is coming." I'm like, "Good Lord." I'm the fucking Grinch in that way, but-

Joe Rogan 1:05:42 Uh.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:05:42 ... training-wise, every day.

Joe Rogan 1:05:45 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:05:45 Because there's always something you can do. Oh, your arm hurt? Do squats.

Joe Rogan 1:05:49 Right.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:05:49 Your leg hurt? Punch.

Joe Rogan 1:05:52 Right.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:05:52 You can always do something.

Joe Rogan 1:05:54 Right.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:05:54 And that's what Kobe Bryant always said.

Joe Rogan 1:05:56 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:05:56 "By the time you and your opponent are about to compete, I have five years ahead."

Joe Rogan 1:06:01 Right.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:06:01 Because he's waking up earlier and having-

Joe Rogan 1:06:04 Mm-hmm.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:06:04 ... more time... And I do that.

Joe Rogan 1:06:06 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:06:06 Like, sometimes I wake up 4:00 in the morning, go for my run. Them guys have to work on the skill. My cardio is done.

Joe Rogan 1:06:12 Hmm.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:06:13 They're... But how many people is going to bed on time?

Joe Rogan 1:06:15 Right.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:06:15 That's also the biggest one.

Joe Rogan 1:06:17 Now, when you are in camp or just in general, what do you do for recovery? Are you getting regular massages? Are you...

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:06:26 Yeah, I definitely do the massages. I go to, to the, like, the PT. They use the... You know, if something hurts, they do wave shocks or steams. I do a lot of hyperbaric chamber-

Joe Rogan 1:06:36 Do you-

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:06:36 ... for the head a lot.

Joe Rogan 1:06:37 How often do you do that?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:06:38 (laughs) Weekly.

Joe Rogan 1:06:39 Weekly. How many times?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:06:40 I... Once a week.

Joe Rogan 1:06:41 Once a week?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:06:41 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:06:41 For how long?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:06:43 For, like, 90 minutes.

Joe Rogan 1:06:44 And how many atmospheres? Two?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:06:46 Say that again.

Joe Rogan 1:06:46 Atmospheres. Like, you know, like, their... they can get it up to, like... The one that I go to get you to 2.2 if you need it.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:06:53 Huh.

Joe Rogan 1:06:53 I, I do it at two, two atmospheres. It's, like, it's i- important, like, how many, um... how... The... Like, they have home units that are-

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:07:01 Yeah, the one that I go is the metal ones, the huge ones.

Joe Rogan 1:07:03 ... not that strong. Yeah, those are the ones you want.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:07:04 I say 90 minute in that thing.

Joe Rogan 1:07:06 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:07:06 I don't know what they do, how they control it. I just get myself in there.

Joe Rogan 1:07:09 Yeah, the... I do 90 minutes as well. The... They're... They have some that only do, like, one and a half atmospheres. The idea is, like-... here's the amount of oxygen in a normal atmosphere, and they jack it up to two, to double the amount of oxygen in the, in an atmosphere. And it like, the, it's pressurized inside of there.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:07:26 Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:07:26 And I think the idea-

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:07:27 Is it being underwater?

Joe Rogan 1:07:28 Yeah. Like, like being underwater with scuba tanks.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:07:31 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:07:31 You know what's interesting? This lady, uh, who's, uh, my doctor told me that one of the people that, uh, she used to do this with, um, they, they used to do scuba. They were scuba divers. And these guys would get drunk, and then the, to recover from scu- from being drunk, they-

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:07:46 Scuba diving.

Joe Rogan 1:07:46 ... they would go scuba diving.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:07:47 Wow.

Joe Rogan 1:07:48 And I go, "Why?" She goes, "Because you, you're down there breathing basically pure oxygen, and you're deep below the water."

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:07:55 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:07:55 "And it's, it's so much oxygen, it's like getting into your cells."

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:07:58 I, I never talk-

Joe Rogan 1:07:59 "And it helps you."

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:07:59 ... to the guys. Like, I talk to them about the phase one, phase two. It's just the huge metal ones.

Joe Rogan 1:08:04 Mm-hmm.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:08:04 I know for a fact it's a good one.

Joe Rogan 1:08:05 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:08:06 I do it once a week.

Joe Rogan 1:08:07 Once a week for 90 minutes.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:08:08 And then I do massages, ice bath, Guaranty. I have a sauna at home that I torture myself-

Joe Rogan 1:08:15 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:08:16 ... every day.

Joe Rogan 1:08:17 Yeah, sauna's big.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:08:17 It's game changer.

Joe Rogan 1:08:19 Game changer.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:08:19 Like if you're gonna spend your money, spend it right.

Joe Rogan 1:08:22 Yeah. Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:08:22 And a sauna is key.

Joe Rogan 1:08:23 It's key. And there's so many athletes that don't use a sauna. I'm like, "My God, you're, you're, you're crazy." Like Dan Gable said that he learned that from the Europeans, that, uh, the Eastern Europeans were all using sauna in training. And he was like, he, he's like, "Why, why are we not using this in America? This is kinda crazy."

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:08:39 When-

Joe Rogan 1:08:39 It improves your endurance.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:08:41 When I ... uh, big ... exactly. And I don't do it when I lift weight. I do it after I do cardio so I keep my heart rate high.

Joe Rogan 1:08:48 Yes.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:08:48 Rhonda Patrick went over that.

Joe Rogan 1:08:50 Yes.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:08:50 And I was like, "Oh, lady, thanks for the advice."

Joe Rogan 1:08:52 Yes. Keeps the heart rate going. And it's hard to do. You know, when you go in there, I like to drink a lot of water before I do it. So I'll, I'll do my cardio, like a lot of ... I, I really love to do it on, on days I do rounds in the bag. Do a lot of cardio-

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:09:06 Basically what I run I do.

Joe Rogan 1:09:07 Yeah, and then get in there. And you don't wanna fucking be in there, man. You're like, "Oh, Jesus."

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:09:12 The first five-

Joe Rogan 1:09:12 'Cause your heart's already trying to recover, and then you're at 185 degrees.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:09:16 I love it.

Joe Rogan 1:09:17 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:09:17 I do it every day. And-

Joe Rogan 1:09:18 It really does maintain your heart rate. And, uh, I've found that it makes my cardio much better. And also, like if I'll take time off of cardio, like if I hurt something and then I have to take like a couple weeks off, I don't lose much.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:09:31 No.

Joe Rogan 1:09:31 You don't lose much-

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:09:32 Because you're in the sun all the time.

Joe Rogan 1:09:34 ... 'cause you're in the sun all the time. Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:09:34 Me, I get in that thing almost every day.

Joe Rogan 1:09:37 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:09:37 I just, when, when she speak about it in the days you do, uh, physical strength, don't do it.

Joe Rogan 1:09:41 Mm-hmm.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:09:42 That's the only thing I, I change in my, in my daily stuff, because I was like, "Might as well. She knows more than me." I go 30-

Joe Rogan 1:09:47 I've been doing it ... I love it out, like in Texas it gets kinda cold at night in the, in the wintertime here, so it's like 40 degrees at night. So what I like to do is I get in there at nighttime. And I, I get in there outs- ... I d- got one, a barrel sauna that I put outside.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:10:00 Have you seen one?

Joe Rogan 1:10:00 I get ... it's 185 degrees. I get to 25 minutes and I just like, I just look at my watch. I'm like, "Jesus Christ, when is 25 minutes?" And hit that 25 minutes, and then I just lay out in the grass. Cool grass, stare at the stars. It's ... feels amazing.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:10:13 It's the fucking be- ... I do that. Because mine's right in the patio.

Joe Rogan 1:10:17 Yeah. I feel so good too. It makes me feel better, and it makes me think, like I think about life, you know, just-

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:10:23 Because the toxins that stop you for feeling good, you just let it go.

Joe Rogan 1:10:27 Yeah, but I always have to make sure that I'm not lying down in dog shit. That's important. I gotta look down at the grass.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:10:32 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:10:33 Scan with my phone, scan for dog shit.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:10:35 You know what? Then your day is ruined.

Joe Rogan 1:10:36 Hope my dogs will leave some presents for me.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:10:39 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:10:39 (laughs)

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:10:39 Then that, you'll fucking ruin your night then.

Joe Rogan 1:10:41 Yeah, but it feels so good to lie in that grass and stare up at that sky and just like, "Ah."

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:10:46 I- That's one thing I, I do enjoy, just watching the sky. The stars are something.

Joe Rogan 1:10:50 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:10:50 They have something about it that-

Joe Rogan 1:10:51 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:10:52 ... like something-

Joe Rogan 1:10:52 It's humbling.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:10:53 It is.

Joe Rogan 1:10:54 Yeah.

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:10:54 Show you how small you are.

Joe Rogan 1:10:56 Yeah. Well, that's also, you live in, uh, Costa Mesa, right?

Marlon "Chito" Vera 1:10:58 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:10:58 You get to see the ocean. The ocean's