Earlier this year, no. 3 ranked UFC bantamweight Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera came out with a fresh look. World-famous tattoo artist ‘Mister Cartoon’ finished Vera’s back piece in what seems to be a really detailed piece of art. Tattoo fanatics know the aforementioned artist as the one who has worked on giant names like 50 Cent, Beyonce, Eminem, and more.
As per reports, Eminem shelled out a whopping $50,000 for his tattoo by Mark Machado A.K.A Mister Cartoon. However, the Ecuadorian has not disclosed what he paid to get his now-famous backpiece. Even though it must have cost him a tiny fortune, Vera can certainly afford one of those when he has won fight night bonuses in 6 of his last 8 bouts.
While Chito’s back piece is one to marvel over, it sure does have a lot of hidden meanings behind it. Recently when Marlon appeared on an episode of The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, he described the significance behind his immaculate ink project. Referencing real-life scenes, an excited Chito shares,
“It’s a big rooster in the middle that represents the fighting, and me growing up going to the rooster fights with my grandfather when I was a little kid, and my father. The crazy environment I got to live in. There is a sign of the town I was born, which is Chone, it says, ‘Welcome to Chone.’ There’s orange trees because it’s called ‘the city of orange’ where I was born because there’s orange trees everywhere.”
Vera further explains, “and then there’s a road that goes around my lower back and then you start seeing buildings, a clown mask, which is [Mister] Cartoon’s specialty, and a woman behind the clown. The clown part is me doing all the crazy s**t to be where I am. The woman in the back is the lady that pushed me to be the man I am today. It’s little things like that, and there’s a sign up the street of the first house I bought.”
Why was Marlon Vera mocked for his head tattoo?
It is worth mentioning that this isn’t Chito’s first tattoo piece. Several artists have inked a plethora of work upon him, including both his sleeves and pecs. It is evident that the Ecuadorian loves his tattoos and finds it hard to resist getting a new one once every few months. However, the MMA community mocked the head tattoo that he revealed to his fans last year.
In the November of 2022, the California resident received a black panther tattoo on the back of his head. It appears to be a wild panther with green eyes and yellow paws. There also seems to be some red smudging around the animal’s body and blood seems to drip from its claws.
I mean… I've seen worse… But this is not a good piece of artwork. Certainly not good enough for a large head tattoo of someone in the spotlight alot.
— Clutchboy (@Clutchboy89) November 10, 2022
Imagine how he explains that to the grandkids in his 70s
— Arthur Newman (@ArthurNewman_7) November 10, 2022
Love chito but this shits ass
— Coochie_mane😈🤟🏾💫 (@itz_kirbyxp) November 10, 2022
On a segment of “Tap In or Tap Out”, part of ESPN’s DC & RC show, the former double champ showed his disapproval of Chito’s decision. When the subject of Vera’s recent head tattoo came up, Daniel Cormier shared, “I tap out, man. That s**t looks terrible. I just don’t understand why these dudes are putting tattoos on their heads. There’s the problem. I’ve got some tattoos. I’ve got some tattoos on my arms, I’ve got some tattoos on my leg, on my back.”
“But guess what? I’ve got tattoos that can all be covered. So if I’ve got to do a job which we do today, I have tattoos that can be covered. Sure, you can do television and fighting. [But] with tattoos like that, I’m not sure you can just go anywhere. So I’m tapping out.” added Cormier.
Having said this, DC insinuated that having head tattoos will prevent future champions like Chito from signing lucrative opportunities that may deal with outside the Octagon. Do you agree with DC’s perspective? Let us know in the comments down below.
