A little over 11 years ago, Marlon Vera showed up on the scene in Mexico City as a fresh-faced kid to kick off the prelims for UFC 180. He was just 21 years old at the time, the only visible tattoo on his chest was the name Ana Paula, his 3-year-old daughter who had been born with a rare neurological condition known as Moebius syndrome.

"Chito," as he was not yet popularly known, was fighting to earn money for her medical bills, and the first stop on what would become a contender’s odyssey. He was the first fighter to ever walk out for a UFC event in Mexico City, and he cried on his way to the Octagon with the flag of Ecuador wrapped around his shoulders.

All that feels like eons ago in the UFC landscape.

UFC 180 was headlined by Mark Hunt and Fabricio Werdum, both long gone from the heavyweight ranks. Yair Rodriguez was making his UFC debut, just the same as Vera, and Cain Velasquez was still a full eight pay-per-views away from becoming “Sea Level Cain.”

“Yeah, it’s been a long time and coming back here it is kind of special, right?” Vera told Uncrowned this week of his full circle moment. “This is where my career started and it was surreal being there in UFC 180, so I'm pretty stoked to be back here.”

Vera’s story has evolved in ways that even he could never have been able to foretell. He lost to Macro Beltran, a proud native of Michoacán who had the crowd on his side at UFC 180, yet because Vera took the fight less than two months after appearing on "The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America" — where he starched Henry Briones with an upkick — he knew there would be more chances.

Cut forward 24 UFC fights, four main events, eight end-of-the-night bonuses, one colossal Sean O’Malley upset, one glinting subsequent title shot and plenty of tattoo ink later, and Vera is making his return to Mexico City. He will fight David Martinez in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 268 on Saturday, once again cast in the role of interloper. Martinez hails from Ecatepec de Morelos, not far from the city center, and he’ll have the partisan crowd in his palm.

This time, Vera isn’t fighting to make his name or for his daughter’s medical bills. This time he is potentially fighting for his roster spot. Successive losses against O’Malley in a rematch, Deiveson Figueiredo, and Aiemann Zahabi have delivered him to what he considers his do-or-die moment, especially if he wants to steer himself back into contention.

“Coming off three losses is not a nice spot for anyone, but at the end of the day, those are decisions,” he says. “I’m choosing to make it right, and to come out on top of my career again. My team has been supporting me, helping me, just pushing me forward to figure it out how to do it.

“And then besides that, it is like when your back is against the wall, you're kind of fighting for your life, because it's your career on the line. It's your name on the line and don't f***ing want to lose. So, what you do, you get on the right mental side of things, and you pick and choose your battles outside fighting. And then, just focus and cut all the distractions, cut all the bull***t, and just think of fighting 24/7.”

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Over the course of a decade, Vera — a down-to-earth fighter who genuinely speaks his mind — has become one of the more beloved fighters in the UFC’s bantamweight division. His highly visible rivalry with O’Malley gave everyone a glimpse of his character, and he remains a draw because of it.

Yet since dropping a split decision to Zahabi in November, he’s been trying to reset. He took a family trip to Italy through the holidays, visiting the Vatican and the ruins of Rome, and spent the last few weeks training in relative isolation in Big Bear, California, to help him acclimate to Mexico City’s rarified air. Mexico City sits at 7,350 feet above sea level, which is over 2,000 feet higher than the Mile High City of Denver.

He posted a picture on his Instagram of him cooling off after a training session in a drift of snow.

“It was amazing being isolated in the woods,” he says. “There you just eat, train, sleep and focus on the task, and it was a pretty great experience. Now I know why all the big-name boxers used to spend so much time there or live there.”

Now 33 years old, Vera hasn’t given up on the idea of becoming Ecuador’s first UFC champion, which he had the shot of becoming in the rematch with O’Malley at UFC 299 less than a year ago. On the official UFC rankings, he is still hovering there at No. 9. Even right now, during the hardest stretch of his career when a title shot feels a million miles away, you can hear what it would mean to him when he talks about it.

“I mean it from the bottom of my heart, I would love to touch that belt one day,” he says.

But the Ecuadorian who has pulled into the pole position to earn that distinction is 26-year-old Michael Morales, the undefeated welterweight who is closing in on a title shot against Islam Makhachev. Vera has been around the game long enough to know that he’s looking at something special when it comes to Morales, and it’s one of the reasons why Vera introduced him to his manager when the campaign kicked up to get Morales into the UFC.

“That guy is a f***ing monster, man,” Vera says. “He’s huge. He’s got power, he’s a good wrestler. So it’s like the new generation. Every generation is going to be better than the last one, and he's going to just keep getting better and better and better.”

It is perhaps fitting that Vera returns to the place where it all started for him in the UFC. Just as he was trying to do more than a decade ago, he is trying to prove he belongs where he is against Martinez, who is coming off a signature victory over Rob Font. The 27-year-old Martinez has won nine fights in a row and will be doing what young, hungry fighters seek to do in big spots.

That is, take the juice from an established name.

“Martinez is a great fighter, he’s a tough dude,” Vera says. “He moves well, he makes a lot of movement and tries to connect while he moves, so you're going to track him down, cut the distance, just put the pressure on him and mix it up. Maybe once I’m in there and I will have a feel for it, I’ll have a better chance to know what I will do.

“But his career started pretty good, so I just have one job and that's to stop him.”

It’s been a wild ride, and it comes full circle Saturday night for Marlon “Chito” Vera. The question of whether he’s still a threat in the bantamweight division is being asked louder than ever.

“And all the answers will be there on Saturday night,” he says.