Marlon Vera vs David Martinez Prediction & Picks - UFC Fight Night

Prediction published on 2/28/26, 4:53 PM  by Bill Christy | Modified on 3/1/26 at 8:36 AM in UFC Picks

We are slated for a battle between a couple of tough Bantamweights in the co-main event on Saturday evening. Marlon “Chito” Vera (23-11-1) will face off with David Martinez (13-1-0). The two men rank 9th and 10th in the division, which means the loser will likely fall back into the 15 range, and the winner will set themselves up for a shot at a top 5 opponent.

Chito Vera has lost 4 of his last 5 fights, and at 33 years of age, a title run is possibly further away than retirement. He lost by unanimous decision to both Sean O’Malley and Deiveson Figueriredo before losing a split decision in his last fight to Aiemann Zahabi. Vera has had a bad track record of coming out slow and dropping the 1st round or 2 before finally easing into a pace that he is comfortable with. That will not bode well for him in this one against Martinez, who likes to finish his opponents early.

David Martinez has only 2 fights in his UFC career after picking up a unanimous decision victory in the Dana White Contenders Series back in October of 2024. Before that, Martinez had finished 9 of his 11 opponents. He picked up another one against Saimon Oliveira in his UFC debut, but was unable to put Rob Font away in his last fight and settled for a decision victory.

While Vera has yet to be finished in his UFC career, a slow start that allows Martinez to get some heavy shots in early could put an end to that stat. That said, this is a large step up in competition for Martinez, who might not want to explode early in the 1st round and keep his composure against a savvy veteran in Vera.