A mixed martial arts career is essentially a series of tests.

 

Each time a competitor steps into the cage, there is a test standing across from them, and while it really only comes down to pass/fail, performances are quite frequently attributed letter grades or percentages as well because no two wins — or two losses — are created equal.

 

Some hopefuls fail the entrance exam and opt never to take it again. Others regroup, take it again, and pass with flying colors. And from there, it’s a constant cycle of preparing for and taking the next test.

 

Some don’t take long to run into a test that is too difficult for them to pass and marks the end of their journey, either or entirely or in terms of progression.

 

Others breeze through any number before running into one that gives them a modicum of trouble. And then there are a whole group of people move forward in fits and starts, passing two, and then failing one before passing the next, and then failing two more for the majority of their careers.

 

There are only a handful of competitors that manage to navigate this sport for an extended period of time while only failing a couple tests, and fewer that pass test after test until they’re all out of tests or simply no longer interested in taking them.

 

Saturday night at the UFC APEX, emerging bantamweight Marlon “Chito” Vera faces the next test of his career in the form of Rob Font, an older, more experienced practitioner who has already passed the exam Vera is readying to take.

 

Font enters stationed at No. 5 in the latest UFC Fighter Rankings, three spots ahead of Vera. He’s five years the senior of his Ecuadorian opponent and a couple years removed from graduating from the position Vera is in right now.

 

The 34-year-old Font, who fights out of Woburn, Massachusetts,and reps the tight-knit and talented New England Cartel, is one of those people that breezed through the majority of his tests to begin his career, reaching the UFC with a 10-1 record before adding wins in each of his first two trips into the Octagon.

 

He went 3-3 over his next six fights, stumbling against more skilled, more seasoned opponents John Lineker, Pedro Munhoz, and Raphael Assuncao, while sailing through assignments against Matt Schnell, Douglas Silva, and Thomas Almeida.

 

Those fights — and particularly those losses — set a baseline for where Font fit within the 135-pound weight class, and it wasn’t until he ran scored a first-round stoppage win over former title challenger Marlon Moraes at the end of 2020 that he graduated to the next tier in the divisions and set a new baseline for himself.

 

He solidified his standing as a top contender with a brilliant effort against former champion Cody Garbrandt last spring before running into another test he wasn’t ready to pass in December when he shared the cage with Jose Aldo.

 

Each of those were either a confirmation of his place in the pecking order or a chance to move forward to another level, and every one of those results provided greater clarity and understanding of the skills he possesses, the developments he’s made since failing his first UFC placement exam against Lineker in the spring of 2016, and how to project what the future might hold.

 

And now he’s poised to play the role of Assuncao for Vera on Saturday night.

 

The popular 29-year-old didn’t hit the ground running like Font did; he failed his first UFC test, passed the second with flying colors, and failed the third. He passed two more, and then failed two more, and for a while, it seemed like that would be the level where he would stay.

 

He kept taking tests and aced them all, but they all felt like exams he’d already passed; five straight near-perfect scores on tests where it wasn’t surprising that he earned a near-perfect score.

 

When he did step up to take a more challenging test, Vera struggled, coming up a little short in two of his next three appearances. To this day, he’ll argue he passed the first one, a unanimous decision loss to rising star Song Yadong, and on the third, a bout with Jose Aldo seven months later, he simply made a boneheaded mistake that cost him dearly.

 

The middle one — his clash with ultra-popular prospect Sean O’Malley — was one of those instances where he passed, but opinions about why he passed continue to be split nearly two years later. Did O’Malley roll his ankle or did Vera hit him with a perfect kick on the peroneal nerve that cause his foot to go numb, making him a sitting duck for Vera’s advances?

 

The debate rages, but the result stands, and since losing to Aldo, “Chito” has earned top mark on two addition tests — making up for a previous failing grade by sharing the Octagon with Davey Grant for a second time and vanquishing the British veteran before finishing Frankie Edgar with a front kick to the face at UFC 268 last November at Madison Square Garden.

 

Saturday night, Vera takes the entrance exam for contender status in the bantamweight division.

 

Beat Font and he’s a bona fide contender, but beating Font isn’t easy. He’s only lost to guys that were ahead of him as he worked his way forward in the division before losing to Aldo, one of the sport’s all-time greats who is in the midst of an unexpected renaissance down a weight class from where he reigned supreme for nearly a decade.

 

Font failed this same exam three times before finally passing it, and across the entire UFC, it’s only the top 10% of fighters that have earned the grades necessary to reside in the Top 5 in their respective divisions. 

 

Is Vera ready to pass this test and join that exclusive collective?

 

Tune into the test on Saturday night and find out.