UFC on Versus: Brandon Vera

Brandon "The Truth" Vera to face Jon Jones at UFC on Versus on March 21

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Brandon “The Truth” Vera (11-4) has been active in mixed martial arts for almost eight years now, and of those years, five have been as an employee of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. During those five years, Vera first climbed the heavyweight ladder with four straight victories and was declared “the next big thing” within the division. Just as fast as he gained notoriety, he fell out of contention even faster with back-to-back losses against Tim Sylvia and Fabricio Werdum.

It was at this time that he changed divisions, to light-heavyweight, and has struggled to find the same success he did early in his career. Vera was defeated in November at UFC 105 by his idol, Randy Couture, in his most recent bout. He will try and use the new UFC on Versus platform to creep back into a championship picture, although it will have to come at another prospects’ expense.

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Vera will need to be at the top of his game to defeat the younger and more athletic Jones. As far as the ground game goes, both fighters have comparable skills. Vera, a former wrestler at Old Dominion University, has shown that he can use his grappling to set up other aspects of his repertoire. Jones, a former Junior College champ, is also capable of rolling with the divisions’ best.

If Vera is to defeat Jones, it will have to be in the standup – both fighters specialties. In the past, Vera has shown a tendency to be complacent allowing his opponents to outwork him and outhustle him. That aspect has improved, even in his last bout with Couture; Vera battled evenly for all three rounds and was shocked to learn that he had been shut out by the judges.

It was in that fight that Vera showed he can hang with the big boys of the division. That fact alone sets this bout up to mean even more for Vera, as another loss would certainly drop him out of contention for a light-heavyweight title fight. A loss would also mean that Vera has been denied the title in two different divisions.

On the opposite side of that, a victory against the top light-heavyweight prospect in the organization solidifies Vera as a top-five LHW. It also proves that he can rebound from his failed run in the heavyweight division and emerge once again.

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Everything that has to do with this headlining bout points to a relatively good stylistic matchup for Vera. He is confident with both his striking and grappling and has shed the predictability part of his game. Most importantly, he stands to prove that before his UFC on Versus 1 opponent is crowned the “future” of the division, he wants to take that opportunity that passed by him years back when, he, was in that very same position.

By Nick Russell
ProFighting-fans.com Senior MMA Staff Writer