Brandon Vera

Brandon “The Truth” Vera is a Filipino-American mixed martial artist currently campaigning in the light heavyweight division of the popular Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Born to a Filipino father and an Italian-American mother, Vera boasts a background in wrestling, suiting up for the US Air Force’s wrestling team and training at the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado. Vera’s MMA career began in 2002 and three years later, he entered the World Extreme Cagefighting heavyweight tournament.

He made his UFC debut on October 3, 2005, knocking out Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Fabiano Scherner in the second round. His UFC career has since been on a roller-coaster ride with wins over Frank Mir and Krzysztof Soszynski, and losses to Keith Jardine, legend Randy Couture and current UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones.

Vera’s recent UFC outing was a no-contest against heavy-hitting Brazilian Thiago Silva last January. His current MMA record is 11-5, with 7 knockouts and 1 submission.

As a tribute to his Filipino lineage, Vera had symbols of Alibata (Filipino writing system) tattooed on his back.