Brandon Vera

Early career

Vera's first professional mixed martial arts bout was on July 6, 2002, while training under Lloyd Irvin. He won the fight against Adam Rivera via TKO in the first round. He fought and won another bout in 2004 before entering the WEC 13 Heavyweight Tournament in 2005, where he won two bouts in one night, including a bout against The Ultimate Fighter 2's Mike Whitehead in the final.^[6]

Vera then moved to San Diego, California, on December 31, 2003, to accept a training position with City Boxing. At City Boxing, Vera excelled as a trainer and was taken under the wing of owner Mark Dion, who became his manager and introduced him to kickboxing great Rob Kaman. With Vera's success as a trainer and a mixed martial arts fighter, Dion gave Vera partial ownership of City Boxing.^[4]

Ultimate Fighting Championship

Vera made his UFC debut at Ultimate Fight Night 2 on October 3, 2005, against BJJ black belt Fabiano Scherner. Vera won the fight via KO due to knees from the clinch midway through the second round. Following the Scherner bout, he faced Justin Eilers at UFC 57, winning early in the first round by KO. At UFC 60, Vera defeated Assuério Silva with a guillotine choke in the first round. On November 18, he stopped former heavyweight champion Frank Mir by TKO due to strikes in just 69 seconds at UFC 65 in Sacramento, California.

White had been telling the media prior to UFC 65 that the winner of the Vera-Mir fight would face the winner of the Tim Sylvia-Jeff Monson bout, which was also being held that same night, for the championship. Vera's victory secured him a championship bout against then title-holder Tim Sylvia, but a contract dispute with the UFC forced him to be replaced by Randy Couture.

In August, the UFC announced the "return" of Vera. His first fight was at UFC 77 against Sylvia, who had recently lost the UFC Heavyweight Championship to Couture.^[7] Vera lost for the first time via unanimous decision. He also broke his left hand at 4:40 of the first round.

Vera had his second loss at UFC 85 against Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialist Fabrício Werdum via TKO. The fight was controversially stopped by referee Dan Miragliotta as Werdum mounted him and landed some ground and pound. After the stoppage, Vera was upset as he felt he was defending himself effectively.^[8][9]

After his two recent losses, Vera dropped down to the Light Heavyweight division, facing IFL alum Reese Andy at UFC Fight Night 14 on July 19, 2008, on Spike TV. Vera defeated Andy via unanimous decision.

At UFC 89, Vera lost to Keith Jardine via a narrow split decision. Following the fight, Vera incurred criticism for his performance since his return to the UFC having been victorious in only one of his last four fights.

A more focused Vera appeared on the preliminary card of UFC 96. It was the first time Vera was not on the main card since he made his debut in the UFC. He had an impressive performance against Mike Patt, showing a more aggressive and intense striking approach and stopping him via TKO (leg kicks) in the second round.

Vera fought Polish fighter Krzysztof Soszynski at UFC 102 after his original opponent, Matt Hamill, was forced to drop out due after suffering a meniscus tear while training.^[10] Vera won via unanimous decision (30–27, 30–27, and 30–27).

Vera lost a close fight to Randy Couture via unanimous decision on November 14, 2009, at UFC 105, with the media comparing the decision to a previous UFC event (UFC 104 Machida-Rua) which prompted that MMA judging should be changed. Despite Vera significantly outstriking Couture and successfully defending numerous takedown attempts, judges awarded the victory to Couture. The verdict surprised many people; UFC commentator Joe Rogan was highly critical of the decision during the live event broadcast and in a post-fight interview, Randy Couture admitted that he didn't expect the decision to be made in his favor.^[11][12]

Vera faced Jon Jones on March 21, 2010, at UFC Live: Vera vs. Jones and lost via TKO in the first round after an elbow from Jones broke Vera's face in three places.

Vera was defeated by Brazilian Thiago Silva via unanimous decision (30–26, 30–27, and 30–27) on January 1, 2011, at UFC 125. At the end of the third round, Vera stood up to reveal a badly broken nose.^[13][14] Vera was released by the UFC with a 7–6 record in the organization.^[15] However following the fight it was revealed that his opponent Thiago Silva had failed the post-fight drug test.^[16] As a result of this, Vera was re-hired by the UFC and the result of the Silva fight was changed to a no contest, resulting in Vera's UFC record changing to 7–5–0–1.^[17]

Vera defeated Eliot Marshall on October 29, 2011, at UFC 137 via unanimous decision (29–28, 29–28, and 29–28).^[18]

Vera was briefly linked to a rematch Thiago Silva on May 15, 2012, at UFC on Fuel TV: Korean Zombie vs. Poirier.^[19] However, Vera was forced out the bout with an injury.^[20]

Vera was expected to face Australian James Te-Huna on July 11, 2012, at UFC on Fuel TV: Munoz vs. Weidman.^[21] However, Vera was pulled from the bout with Te-Huna to face Maurício Rua on August 4, 2012, at UFC on Fox: Shogun vs. Vera.^[21] Vera was defeated via TKO late in the fourth round. Vera showed great heart after being rocked early in the second round, but as both fighters showed early signs of fatigue in the late stages of the second round, Vera ultimately succumbed to Rua's power. This fight is widely considered the best performance of Vera's career, despite the loss.

Vera returned to the Heavyweight division after an absence of 5 years and faced Ben Rothwell at UFC 164 on August 31, 2013.^[22] After a competitive first and second round, Rothwell defeated Vera by TKO in the third round. Subsequent to the bout, Rothwell tested positive for elevated testosterone levels. The UFC suspended Rothwell for nine months, despite the Wisconsin commission only issuing him with an administrative warning.^[23]

Vera was released from the UFC on June 17, 2014, ending his eight-year run with the promotion.^[24]

ONE Championship

On July 13, 2014, it was confirmed that Vera had signed with Singapore-based promotion ONE FC.^[25] His debut was on December 5, 2014, against Ukrainian striker Igor Subora at ONE Fighting Championship: Warrior's Way.^[26] Vera won the fight via knockout after landing a counter straight left at 3:54 minutes in the first round.^[27]

Vera was originally scheduled to face English kickboxing specialist Chi Lewis-Parry at ONE Championship: Spirit of Champions on December 11, 2015 to crown the inaugural ONE Heavyweight Champion. However, he faced Taiwanese Paul Cheng instead, who replaced Parry on three days-notice after Parry failed to submit his medical records, did not show up for the pre-event press conference nor board his flight to Manila. Vera won the fight via knockout just twenty six seconds into the first round to win the championship.

After nearly a year away from the cage, Vera returned to face Japanese grappler Hideki Sekine at ONE Championship: Age of Domination on December 2, 2016. He successfully defended his heavyweight title, winning by TKO in the first round.

Vera successfully defended his title via knockout in the first round against Cage Warriors Heavyweight Champion, Mauro Cerilli who was on his promotional debut at ONE Championship: Conquest of Champions on November 23, 2018.^{[28][29][30][31]}

As the first fight of his new ten-bout contract with ONE, Vera challenged Aung La Nsang for the ONE Light Heavyweight Championship at ONE Championship: Century on October 13, 2019 in Tokyo, Japan, thus marking Vera's first fight in ONE Championship to take place outside of the Philippines.^[32][33] Vera lost by TKO in the second round.^[34]

At ONE Championship: Fire & Fury on January 31, 2020, Vera announced that he would be defending his ONE Heavyweight Championship on May 29 in Manila, with an opponent yet to be announced.^[35] It was later announced that he would be defending his ONE Heavyweight title against Arjan Bhullar at ONE Infinity 2.^[36] Their fight was later postponed as a result of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sports.

Vera faced Bhullar at ONE Championship: Dangal on May 15, 2021, with the fight taking place in Kallang, Singapore.^[37] Vera lost to Bhullar by second-round technical knockout, ending his five-year reign as ONE Heavyweight World Champion.^[38]

Vera faced Amir Aliakbari on December 3, 2022, at ONE 164.^[39] He lost the fight via technical knockout in the first round and announced his retirement during the post-fight interview.^[40]

Kickboxing

• World Kickboxing Association
  • WKA Super Heavyweight Champion

Grappling

• Grappler's Quest
  • 8 Time Grappler's Quest Champion

Mixed martial arts

• Ultimate Fighting Championship
  • UFC Encyclopedia Awards
    • Knockout of the Night (One time) vs. Fabiano Scherner^[54]

• World Extreme Cagefighting
  • 2005 WEC Heavyweight Grand Prix Championship
• ONE Championship
  • ONE Heavyweight Championship (One time, first)
    • 2 title defenses

Film

Television

Music videos