‘The Truth’ begins quest for UFC crown vs Brazilian

LONDON, England – It’s the moment of truth for Brandon Vera, the fierce Fil-Am fighter who begins his quest for a crack at the heavyweight crown against Brazilian Fabricio Werdum in one of the featured fights in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 85: Bedlam on Saturday night (early Sunday in Manila) at the sprawling O2 Arena here.

Known as the “The Truth,” the 6-2, 223-lb warrior will be facing a taller (6-4) and heavier (231-lbs) Werdum boasting of an 8-1-0 (win-loss-draw) record, including eight straight wins before he was stopped by former champion American Tim “The Maine-iac” Sylvia in UFC 77 in October last year in Cincinnati, Ohio.

That setback stalled Vera’s title drive in the world’s most premier mixed martial arts event.

During that fight, the 30-year-old Vera had injured his left thumb right in the early going, but hung tough before losing via a unanimous decision in the three-round bout.

That all fired up Vera to redeem himself and get back on track.

“When I lost to Sylvia, I jammed my left thumb in the first round and it was different fight from there. That was really a boring match,” said Vera, born in Norfolk, Virginia but is fighting out of San Diego, California, in an interview with Filipino media men.

Although he’s an Olympic-caliber wrestler and excellent grappler, Vera’s main weapons are his power kicks, knees and elbows.

In fact, six of his eight matches were won either by technical knockout or via submission, including one against former champion Frank Mir in UFC 65 two years ago.

“Fighting Werdum is not just a test for my ground fighting but a test for me,” said Vera, whose wife Kerry, who arrived here Friday, is a muay Thai champion.

Werdum, fighting out of Porto Alegre, Brazil, is an expert at the ground game, thanks to his strong jiu-jitsu and judo background. He is a world and Brazilian jiu-jitsu champion and a brown belter in judo with an MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) record of 10-3-1.

One of Werdum’s setbacks came at the hands of countryman Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira, the interim heavyweight champ, in a 2006 bout in Japan.

“Werdum is a very dangerous opponent, but I want to fight only the best and Werdum is up there. I think it’s going to be a real exciting fight,” said Vera.

Balls, television giant ABS-CBN’s Sky Cable channel, will air the Vera-Werdum fight and selected bouts at UFC 85 on June 8 at 9 a.m. (Philippine time). It will be aired the same day on free channel Studio 23 right after the French Open finals.

Replays will be shown on Balls at 9 a.m. on June 9 and at 3 p.m. the next day.