Brandon Michael Vera (born October 10, 1977), or also known by his ring name as The Truth, is a Filipino-American (of Italian heritage) retired mixed martial artist where he was the inaugural ONE Heavyweight Champion and the 2005 WEC Heavyweight Grand Prix Champion. A professional competitor from 2002 until 2022, he competed in the

Light Heavyweight Light heavyweight, also referred to as junior cruiserweight or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the division is above and up to , falling between super middleweight and cruise ...

and

Heavyweight Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 3 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the W ...

divisions of ONE Championship, World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) and

Ultimate Fighting Championship The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

(UFC).

Background

Brandon Vera grew up in a house of seven boys and three girls. He was born to a Filipino father, Ernesto, and an Italian mother, but raised by his Filipino stepmother, Amelia. He also has two other brothers and another sister outside of the family in which he was raised and they were occasionally involved in his life. Vera was born and raised in

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia B ...

, and attended Lake Taylor High School where he excelled in

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat s ...

and earned a four-year athletic scholarship to Old Dominion University. However, he dropped out of Old Dominion after a year and a half when he felt college was not for him, and enlisted himself in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Si ...

. In the Air Force, Vera joined the wrestling team and trained at the United States

Olympic Training Center The United States Olympic & Paralympic Training Centers (OPTCs) are two campuses created by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) as training facilities for its Olympic and Paralympic athletes. They are located in Colorado Sprin ...

Colorado Springs, Colorado Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

. His military wrestling career was cut short in 1999 when he tore ligaments in his right elbow. Arthroscopic surgery repaired the ligaments, but he had nerve damage from the experience, causing him to be unable to use his right arm. He was released from the Air Force on a medical discharge. Vera returned to Virginia where he steadily rehabilitated his arm, and eventually was fit enough to enter the Grapplers Quest submission wrestling competitions on the East Coast. There, his solitary training methods (he did not belong to a camp and trained and cut weight on his own) caught the attention of

Lloyd Irvin Lloyd Irvin Jr. is a mixed martial arts (MMA) and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt practitioner and coach. The founder of Team Lloyd Irvin, the first non-Brazilian team to take a world team title, he is the head coach to several champion grapplers ...

, a

Brazilian jiu-jitsu Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ; pt, jiu-jitsu brasileiro ) is a self-defence martial art and combat sport based on grappling, ground fighting (ne-waza) and submission holds. BJJ focuses on the skill of taking an opponent to the ground, control ...

Black Belt and coach, who invited him to train with his school. At Irvin's school, he was introduced to mixed martial arts.

Mixed martial arts career

Early career

Vera's first professional mixed martial arts bout was on July 6, 2002, while training under

. 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 Michael Joe Whitehead (born June 29, 1981) is a former professional mixed martial artist. He competed in the Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight weight classes for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, IFL, Affliction, and Strikeforce. Mixed ...

in the final. 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 Rob "The Dutchman" Kaman (born 5 June 1960) is a Dutch retired 9-time kickboxing and Muay Thai world champion. He is often called "Mr. Low Kick" because of his feared low kicks which he used to set up his devastating offensive attacks. Biogra ...

. With Vera's success as a trainer and a mixed martial arts fighter, Dion gave Vera partial ownership of City Boxing.

Ultimate Fighting Championship

Vera made his UFC debut at ''

Ultimate Fight Night 2 ''Ultimate Fight Night 2'' was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on October 3, 2005. The event took place at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, and was broadcast live on Spike TV in the Uni ...

'' 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 Assuerio 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 ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

. 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 Randall Duane Couture (; born June 22, 1963) is an American actor, former U.S. Army sergeant, former mixed martial artist and former collegiate and Greco-Roman wrestler. During his tenures in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), he bec ...

. In August, the UFC announced the "return" of Vera. His first fight was at ''

UFC 77 ''UFC 77: Hostile Territory'' was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). The event took place on Saturday, October 20, 2007, at the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio. Background The main event featured An ...

'' against Sylvia, who had recently lost the UFC Heavyweight Championship to Couture. 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. After his two recent losses, Vera dropped down to the

division, facing IFL alum

Reese Andy Reese Paul Andy (born March 31, 1973) is a retired American mixed martial artist. A professional from 2005 until 2008, he fought in the UFC and was a member of the Seattle Tiger Sharks in the IFL. Background Andy grew up in a family of four b ...

at '' UFC Fight Night 14'' on July 19, 2008, on

Spike TV Paramount Network is an American basic cable television channel owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Media Networks. The network's headquarters are located at the Paramount Pictures studio lot in Los Angeles. The channel was ...

. Vera defeated Andy via unanimous decision. At UFC 89, Vera lost to

Keith Jardine Keith Jardine (born October 31, 1975) is an American actor and retired mixed martial artist who most notably competed in the UFC and Strikeforce. Jardine was known for upset victories in bouts he took at short notice against highly rated fighte ...

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 ''UFC 102: Couture vs. Nogueira'' was a mixed martial arts pay-per-view event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) on August 29, 2009 at the Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon. It featured former five-time UFC champion and UFC Hall of Fa ...

after his original opponent, Matt Hamill, was forced to drop out due after suffering a meniscus tear while training. Vera won via unanimous decision (30–27, 30–27, and 30–27). Vera lost a close fight to

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. 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. Vera was released by the UFC with a 7–6 record in the organization. However following the fight it was revealed that his opponent Thiago Silva had failed the post-fight drug test. 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. Vera defeated Eliot Marshall on October 29, 2011 at UFC 137 via unanimous decision (29–28, 29–28, and 29–28). Vera was briefly linked to a rematch Thiago Silva on May 15, 2012 at UFC on Fuel TV: Korean Zombie vs. Poirier. However, Vera was forced out the bout with an injury. Vera was expected to face Australian James Te-Huna on July 11, 2012 at UFC on Fuel TV: Munoz vs. Weidman. 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. 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

division after an absence of 5 years and faced Ben Rothwell at UFC 164 on August 31, 2013. 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. Vera was released from the UFC on June 17, 2014, ending his eight-year run with the promotion.

ONE Championship

On July 13, 2014, it was confirmed that Vera had signed with

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

-based promotion

ONE FC ONE Championship (formerly ONE Fighting Championship) is a Singaporean combat sports promotion. Founded on 14 July 2011 by entrepreneur Chatri Sityodtong and former ESPN Star Sports senior executive Victor Cui, its events have featured mixed ...

. His debut was on December 5, 2014 against Igor Subora at ONE Fighting Championship: Warrior's Way. Vera won the fight via knockout after landing a counter straight left at 3:54 minutes in the first round. On December 11, 2015, Vera faced Paul Cheng in the main event at ONE Championship: Spirit of Champions. He won the fight via knockout just 26 second into the first round to win the ONE Heavyweight Championship. After nearly a year away from the cage, Vera returned to face 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. 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. Vera lost by TKO in the second round. 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. It was later announced that he would be defending his ONE Heavyweight title against Arjan Bhullar at ONE Infinity 2. 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. Vera lost to Bhullar by second-round technical knockout, ending his five-year reign as ONE Heavyweight World Champion. Vera faced Amir Aliakbari on December 3, 2022, at

ONE 164 ''ONE 164: Pacio vs. Brooks'' was a Combat sport event produced by ONE Championship that took place on December 3, 2022, at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay, Philippines. Background This is a competition with two events on December 3, is ON ...

. He lost the fight via technical knockout in the first round and announced his retirement during the post-fight interview.

Personal life

Vera's former wife, Kerry, is also a mixed martial artist who formerly fought for the now-defunct Strikeforce. She was featured on the second season of Oxygen's '' Fight Girls''. In September 2014, Kerry filed for divorce. Vera started dating Jessica Craven and announced their engagement in April 2017. They wed on April 20, 2018 in Guam. Vera has a tattoo on his back, inked in the Filipino writing system called '' Baybayin''. Clockwise, it reads ''mundo'' (earth), ''hangin'' (wind), ''apoy'' (fire) and ''tubig'' (water). While staying in the Philippines, he trained Filipino actor Richard Gutierrez in martial arts and was given a role as an assassin for Philippine primetime television show, '' Kamandag'' on the

GMA Network GMA Network (Global Media Arts or simply GMA) is a Philippine free-to-air television and radio network. It is the flagship property of publicly traded GMA Network, Inc. Its first broadcast on television was on October 29, 1961. GMA Network (f ...

. In 2018, Vera co-starred with

Anne Curtis Anne Curtis-Smith(; born 17 February 1985) is a Filipino-Australian actress, model, television host, entrepreneur and recording artist. She is dubbed as the "''Multimedia Superstar''" for her talent and influence. Curtis has received numerou ...

in the Philippine action-thriller ''

BuyBust ''BuyBust'' (stylized as ''BUYBUST'') is a 2018 Philippine action thriller film co-written and directed by Erik Matti. It stars an ensemble cast top-billed by Anne Curtis and Brandon Vera. The plot centers on a team summoned by the Philippine D ...

''. In the latter part of his training for UFC 89, Vera was reportedly held at gun point by two men attempting to rob the house in which he was staying. Vera stated that the incident did not affect his performance against

. In 2016, Vera revealed that he was relocating to the Philippines full time, to help grow the sport of mixed martial arts in his ancestral homeland. He has been working on opening a branch of Alliance MMA. Vera holds dual citizenship: American (by ''

jus solis ''Jus soli'' ( , , ; meaning "right of soil"), commonly referred to as birthright citizenship, is the right of anyone born in the territory of a state to nationality or citizenship. ''Jus soli'' was part of the English common law, in contras ...

'') and Filipino (by '' jus sanguinis'').

Championships and accomplishments

Kickboxing

* World Kickboxing Association **WKA Super Heavyweight Champion

Grappling

*Grappler's Quest **8 Time Grappler's Quest Champion

Mixed martial arts

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

Mixed martial arts record

, - , Loss , align=center, 16–10 (1) , Amir Aliakbari , TKO (elbows and punches) , ONE 164: Pacio vs. Brooks , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 3:37 ,

Pasay Pasay, officially the City of Pasay ( fil, Lungsod ng Pasay; ), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 440,656 people. Due to its location jus ...

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, , - , Loss , align=center, 16–8 (1) , Aung La Nsang , TKO (punches) , ONE: Century Part 2 , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 3:23 ,

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

, , - , Win , align=center, 16–7 (1) , Mauro Cerilli , KO (punch) , ONE: Conquest of Champions , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:04 ,

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, , - , Win , align=center, 15–7 (1) , Hideki Sekine , TKO (body kick and punches) , ONE: Age of Domination , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 3:11 ,

, , - , Win , align=center, 14–7 (1) , Paul Cheng , KO (punch and head kick) , ONE: Spirit of Champions , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:26 ,

, , - , Win , align=center, 13–7 (1) , Igor Subora , TKO (punch and soccer kicks) , ONE FC: Warrior's Way , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 3:54 ,

, , - , Loss , align=center, 12–7 (1) , Ben Rothwell , TKO (punches and knees) , UFC 164 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 1:54 ,

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee i ...

, United States , , - , Loss , align=center, 12–6 (1) , Maurício Rua , TKO (punches) , UFC on Fox: Shogun vs. Vera , , align=center, 4 , align=center, 4:03 ,

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 12–5 (1) , Eliot Marshall , Decision (unanimous) , UFC 137 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vega ...

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, Decision (unanimous) , UFC 105 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 , Manchester, England, United Kingdom , , - , Win , align=center, 11–3 , Krzysztof Soszynski , Decision (unanimous) ,

, , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous ...

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 10–3 , Michael Patt , TKO (leg kicks) , UFC 96 , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 1:27 ,

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, an ...

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, TKO (doctor stoppage) , rowspan=2, WEC 13 , rowspan=2, , align=center, 2 , align=center, 1:12 , rowspan=2,

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References

Notes

External links

Official Brandon Vera Website
*
Official UFC Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vera, Brandon 1977 births Living people Mixed martial artists from Virginia Light heavyweight mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing collegiate wrestling Mixed martial artists utilizing Greco-Roman wrestling Mixed martial artists utilizing Brazilian jiu-jitsu American sportspeople of Italian descent American male mixed martial artists Mixed martial arts trainers Heavyweight mixed martial artists American expatriates in the Philippines American male sport wrestlers American practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu People awarded a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu American mixed martial artists of Filipino descent Ultimate Fighting Championship male fighters ONE Championship champions