Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera’s first UFC title shot didn’t quite go as he planned.

In March, Vera was outpointed across five rounds by reigning UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley in a bout which saw ‘Suga’ dip into his box of tricks to show off some of his most flashy striking techniques — including one step-in knee that connected flush on Vera’s head.

And speaking to the media in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday ahead of his 135-pound showdown with former flyweight king Deiveson Figueirdo, Vera said that the knee did indeed hurt — but it was a fifth-round punch from O’Malley that actually did the most damage.

“To make a comparison, the punch in the fifth round that landed perfectly on my eye,” Chito explained, “hurt me a million times more [than the knee]. I was fully blind, I was like, ‘F*ck!’ Perfect punch.

“The knee kind of shocked me. I was like, ‘F**k I got clipped.’ But my legs were there, I was just like, ‘F**k that really hurt.’ In terms of a hit. But my brain and my legs were there.”

This time around against Figueirdo, Vera says that he won’t be surprised if his opponent seeks to bring the fight to the ground to avoid — in theory at least — the area in which ‘Chito’ does his best work.

“He’s going to f*cking just shoot and smell my crotch in the first second of the fight,” Vera said of Saturday’s contest. “So, we know how this works. Fighters say something and do something else, but I mean, if we wants to try, we can give it a try.

“I never take pride in these things because I don’t want to talk about it and put it out in the universe. I just work hard and do the best I can, but yeah, he can give it a try.”