Marlon Chito Vera is as fierce as it gets inside the Octagon but, outside of it, he is a wholesome family man. His love story is the stuff of dreams. However, he has had to get through tough times with his wife but still, his family has come out strong and smiling because he has given them utmost priority.
Chito will take on Sean O’Malley at UFC 299 for the bantamweight championship. Chito has inflicted O’Malley’s only defeat and the Ecuadorian would be hoping to do that again and win the title.
On the UFC 299 Countdown video, Chito and his wife opened up about the origins of their love story. Chito’s wife Maria Paulina Escobar claimed, “We met in school – fourth grade. This is not a joke, I told my friends at that time ‘I’m going to marry him’ I was 10 years old.”
Chito said, “We started dating in high school and we’ve been together [our] whole lives.” The Ecuadorian claims his wife has supported him throughout his career and he is doing what he does for her and their family. “She’s been 100% supportive 100% backing me up me in whatever I do. I’m not doing this for the fame. I’m doing it for the family.”
Vera further explained how he dreams of being the world champion. However, the championship will go away one day and what will stay back is the impact he creates.
Marlon Chito Vera shares three children with his wife Maria Paulina Escobar
The exact date of Vera and Escobar’s marriage is unknown but reports claim they got married in or before 2011. In 2011, they were blessed with their first daughter, Ana Paula. At the time, Chito was 18 and his wife Escobar was 17. Chito has revealed that they have a year’s age gap.
He told MMA Fighting in 2016, “She was a year younger than me, but my wife has been a huge pillar in my career… She’s one of those women that are born to be a mother, that are born to be a wife. … Not everyone is lucky to have a great woman beside them.”
In 2015, they were blessed with a baby boy, Jose Ignacio. After the birth of his second child, Vera realized he could not do much in Ecuador and had to move to America to make a living for his family. He left for America alone with minimal savings but he credits his wife, a digital content creator, for letting him take the step.
“When I left my house, I didn’t have more than six grand … [I told my wife] my family will support you. Your family will support you. But if I stay here, we’re going nowhere,” he told Yahoo Sports. “A good wife means so much. A bad woman can drag you down, but a good woman will take you a long way. She was able to stay with our two kids by herself and just wait for me.”
After making his UFC debut in 2014 and moving to the USA soon after, Chito made great progress in the UFC. He was a mainstay in the promotion. In 2018, Chito and his wife were blessed with their third child, a daughter, Eliana.
Chito’s eldest daughter suffered from a medical condition that required surgery through donations
Ana Paula was born with a condition called Moebius syndrome. According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, “Moebius syndrome is a rare congenital (present at birth) condition that results from underdevelopment of the facial nerves that control some of the eye movements and facial expressions.”
The doctors knew at the time of the birth that there was an issue. They did not know the exact diagnosis but Chito was heartbroken when he heard about it. In a UFC Connect video, he said, “Why in the happiest day of our life do we receive worst news, ‘the kid is born with a condition’ and there’s nothing that you can do about it. That just broke me.”
Ana Paula could not smile and it had become a dream of the family to see her smile. Chito set up a GoFundMe account for her surgery and it raised around $19,000. With the help of the donation, Ana Paula could get surgery and smile for the first time.
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“It’s truly incredible, and it’s something that has brought me a lot of satisfaction,” Vera told MMA Fighting in 2018, regarding the donations he received. “It has helped me become a better person, it’s helped me see the good side of the world.”
He also said that seeing his daughter smile is “the best thing that’s ever happened” in his life. The family man Chito Vera will be up against Suga at UFC 299 to fulfill his dream of becoming a world champion. Can Vera get the better of Suga again or will Suga destroy Vera’s dream? We will find out this weekend.