“I Admire Kobe Bryant”: UFC Star Details Lakers Legend’s Influence on His Career

Many have looked upon the basketball legend Kobe Bryant as an inspiration. His relentless drive to succeed in life was something that inspired a lot of people. Bryant often spoke about putting in extra hours at the training in order to stay ahead of his competition. Given his success in NBA, ‘Mamba’ is considered one of the greatest athletes ever. The Lakers’ legend also gave a name to his strong mentality. It is called ‘The Mamba mentality’ and is famous among athletes around the world. Moreover, many athletes from different sports follow in his footsteps. One of them is the bantamweight UFC star, Marlon Vera.

The Ecuadorian fighter draws inspiration from Bryant. As he was someone who always stayed consistent in training irrespective of the circumstances. This habit of his eventually became one of the major reasons for his success, like Bryant.

Marlon Vera speaks about being inspired by Kobe Bryant

UFC bantamweight fighter Marlon Vera recently did an interview with MMA Junkie. During the interview, the Ecuadorian spoke on a variety of topics, including how he was inspired by the late Kobe Bryant.

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Marlon Vera has improved drastically over time and is one of the best bantamweights in the UFC as of now. Speaking about how he stays consistent and puts in extra work like his inspiration, Kobe Bryant. Vera said, “I think I admire the right people.”

He added, “The reason I keep this mentality of putting repetition over time or staying consistent on being a month ahead of my opponents is because I admire Kobe Bryant.”

It is interesting to note that this is not the first time Vera was all complimentary about Bryant. He has spoken about the NBA legend highly in many of his old interviews.

It’s safe to say that Marlon Vera is following in the footsteps of his inspiration, Kobe Bryant, when it comes to putting in extra hours of training. Thankfully for him, this helped him a lot in the fight game.

Marlon Vera’s next big challenge

Vera has fought some notable names in the UFC, such as Dominick Cruz, Jose Aldo, and Sean O’Malley. However, his upcoming fight against Cory Sandhagen could be the most defining fight for his career so far.

A win against Cory Sandhagen would most likely put Marlon Vera in the UFC bantamweight title contention. Even if Vera does not get an immediate title shot against Aljamain Sterling, he could potentially end up facing Sean O’Malley for the interim bantamweight championship.

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It is worth noting that Marlon Vera and Sean O’Malley have fought in the past. However, the fight was won by Vera via TKO after O’Malley seemed to have suffered a leg injury. That said, the Ecuadorian will need to bring his best to beat Cory Sandhagen when they enter the octagon on March 25th.

What are your predictions about this fight? What do you guys think about Vera’s words?