Brandon Vera

Brandon Michael Vera (born October 10, 1977), or also known by his ring name as The Truth, is a Filipino and American retired mixed martial artist where he was the inaugural ONE Heavyweight Champion and the 2005 WEC Heavyweight Grand Prix Champion.

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, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu Black Belt and coach, who invited him to train with his school.

At Irvin's school, he was introduced to mixed martial arts.

A professional competitor from 2002 until 2022, he competed in the Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight divisions of ONE Championship, World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

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, and attended Lake Taylor High School where he excelled in wrestling 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.

In the Air Force, Vera joined the wrestling team and trained at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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 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.