UFC light heavyweight Brandon ‘The Truth’ Vera (12-5, 1NC) is itching to get back into the Octagon and jumped at the chance to rematch the fighter who had him kicked out of the UFC after a third straight Octagon loss.
Fortunately for Vera after that third defeat, it was determined that opponent Thiago Silva had falsified his drug test urine sample to the Nevada State Athletic Commission and the result was changed to a “No Contest” with Silva receiving a one-year suspension. Vera was reinstated by the UFC and eventually went on to defeat Eliot Marshall at UFC 137.
The UFC offered Vera a chance to rematch Silva this coming May, but ‘The Truth’ is still recovering from a previous injury and had to withdraw due to that injury.
On a recent segment of “The MMA Show with Mauro Ranallo” (hit play to listen to the podcast), Vera says a rematch with Silva is “THE” fight he wants next and is ready to return in order to “crush peoples dreams in the Octagon.”
“That is THE fight that I want. Out of my whole UFC career, I want that fight more than any other fight I’ve ever had. I want to fight Thiago so bad,” Vera said. “I’ve been harping my manager and Joe Silva that ‘When that motherfucker is available, I want his ass, I want him.’ After I got the phone call saying I could fight Thiago in Virginia, which is a homecoming for me, I went to get cleared by my surgeon — I don’t remember what I said to him, but what I came out of the discussion with was that I could fight May 15. So I told Joe Silva and my manager Matt Stencil that ‘I’m in, the fight’s on, my doctor cleared it, I just have to clear it with my team of phsyical therapists’…. ”
“I’m doing everything now that got me to the UFC, to the retarded workouts on my own, to getting up at 3 am and running because I’m worried the other guy is running. I want to win again, I want to hurt people again, and I want to crush people’s dreams in the Octagon,” he said. “I had to ask myself how bad I really wanted it when Elliot put me in the armbar and I decided I wasn’t going to tap. In that split half-second, I knew I wasn’t going to tap and that I needed to fix (my career). It was the only thing comforting me when my arm popped. I’ve been fired, my heart’s been broken, so let’s get it together and make life easy again…. ”
As for a final message to his rival Silva, or anyone else who tries to fight him on the juice?
“I don’t give a damn if you use steroids,” he said. “I’m not buff — I’m in between Phil Davis and Roy Nelson — but I’m going to whoop your ass when we fight so I don’t care what you’re on.”
Also on Wednesday’s podcast for “The MMA Show” was Tristar trainer Firas Zahabi, Jackson MMA coach Mike Winkeljohn, UFC lightweight Yves Edwards, and Carlos Condit’s manager Malki Kawa.