Marlon Vera Stops Charles Jourdain, Ends Three-Year Win Drought
Marlon Vera needed the finish more than the night, and he got both.
The Ecuadorian bantamweight stopped Charles Jourdain by TKO at 2:02 of Round 3 on Saturday at UFC 331 inside Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
Vera dropped Jourdain again in the final round. The Canadian signaled he could not continue, and the referee waved it off.
It was Vera’s first win since a decision over Pedro Munhoz at UFC 292 in August 2023.
Four straight decision losses had followed that night. Sean O’Malley took the rematch at UFC 299. Deiveson Figueiredo, Aiemann Zahabi, and David Martinez all beat him on the scorecards after that.
Joe Rogan told him he knew how badly he needed this one. Vera did not argue.
“I needed this more like life itself,” Vera said.
He refused to point at anyone else for the skid.
“You know, fourth in a row, fourth decision, it’s like I have never put a skis in my life, I have never blamed a person or anything,” Vera said. “I use my faith, my strength, my heart, my immigrant mentality, which is the most important thing that I have for my family, for my kids.”
Jourdain came in on a three-fight win streak at 135 pounds, with recent victories over Victor Henry, Davey Grant, and Kyler Phillips. He was the favorite. Vera walked him down anyway.
Rogan said the second round looked like vintage Chito. That is when Vera started to turn the fight.
“Man, it’s been a long road, a lot of changes,” Vera said. “I’m just very grateful to the people from the past that came and helped me. My new team with the Rosas brothers, his dad in my corner, my two old coaches that I brought back from the past. We just, we just sink back in.”
He said he left the rest of it alone.
“I put everything aside and I just left everything on God’s hands and man, when you work hard, it pays off.”
The result moved Vera to 24-12-1. Jourdain fell to 18-9-1 and saw a 135-pound surge end against a former title challenger who still had one more gear.
Vera entered ranked in the bantamweight top 10. A third-round stoppage after three years without a win does not hand him another title shot on its own. It does stop the conversation that he was finished as a threat at 135.
He said he is here for another run and that the training never stopped even when the decisions went the other way.
“Sometimes things don’t go your way, but if you dig deep, you put the shadows and the demons aside, the voices in your head, everything is possible in life,” Vera said. “And I’m just happy, I’m able to show this by example and through hard work.”
Rogan told him to enjoy it and come back. Vera left one more line for the building.
“And remember something, train by day, your own pockets by night, all night.”
The next booking has not been announced. For the first time since 2023, Vera gets to wait for it with a finish on the tape.