In the wild, there are young and hungry lions who are waiting for the opportunity to establish their dominance. When a member of the pack can’t keep up with the rest, he will inevitably be replaced by someone stronger and faster than himself. While the…
In the wild, there are young and hungry lions who are waiting for the opportunity to establish their dominance. When a member of the pack can’t keep up with the rest, he will inevitably be replaced by someone stronger and faster than himself.
While the eight-sided cages of the UFC are a far stretch from the plains of the Serengeti, the same struggle for contention happens under the Zuffa umbrella on a regular basis. Competitive fighters hit a rough patch and quickly find themselves ejected from their surroundings. New stars from the regional circuit are brought in to replace them, and the cycle begins anew.
Enough of the lame safari metaphors. Here is a look at 10 fighters who could find themselves in the unemployment line if their next fight doesn’t go the way that they’d like.
Brandon Vera wasn’t exactly the opponent most fans were hoping for when he was paired up with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC on FOX 4.The announcement came after Brian Stann suffered a shoulder injury, which forced him and his opponent Hector Lombard off…
Brandon Vera wasn’t exactly the opponent most fans were hoping for when he was paired up with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC on FOX 4.
The announcement came after Brian Stann suffered a shoulder injury, which forced him and his opponent Hector Lombard off of the card and prompted the UFC to find a new main event.
The new pairing of Vera and Rua has left fans unsatisfied, and a lot of them feel Vera is a mismatch for the former UFC light heavyweight champion.
But that only lights a fire under Vera, and he told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour (h/t Dave Doyle of MMAfighting.com) that he is ready to prove his detractors wrong.
“I need this, this could almost become the defining moment of my career, through all the good, the bad and the ugly. If I do this the way I’m supposed to, the way I can, the world will start following,” Vera said. “I’m not ready to let my story come to an end. I’m not ready to retire, I’m not ready to hang up the gloves.”
That is different tune coming from the 34-year-old, who at one point was hailed as the future of the heavyweight division after beginning his UFC tenure at 4-0. But recently “The Truth” has declined, compiling a record of 1-2-1.
But he believes he has rediscovered the passion inside of him, something that was rarely seen since his early days in the company.
He is ready to prove himself against the former Pride FC standout and shut the critics up, too.
“After my performance against Eliot Marshall they’re supposed to be counting me out. I’m supposed to show up and get my ass whupped. That’s what’s supposed to happen. But it’s not going down like that on August 4. Everyone is expecting me not to beat him. I don’t mind being the underdog, that’s when I’m at my best,” he said.
Everyone likes an underdog story, however Vera might be biting off more than he can chew against the Brazilian. The truth is that Vera has not looked remotely capable of competing against some of the 205-pound-division’s elite fighters, let alone defeat them.
Vera is reaching his mid-30s and is no longer the same fighter he once was. Rua is no spring chicken either, as he has looked rather vulnerable in some of his past fights, too, but one would expect “Shogun” to pull off the victory with ease.
If Vera does walk away with the win, it doesn’t put him anywhere near the top of the division, but it will have fans believing in the hype and finally take him seriously.
Remember the days, way back in 2006, when Brandon Vera was considered the future of mixed martial arts? He was going to be heavyweight champion, and then he’d drop some weight and capture the light heavyweight belt just for the fun of it. Vera rep…
Remember the days, way back in 2006, when Brandon Vera was considered the future of mixed martial arts?
He was going to be heavyweight champion, and then he’d drop some weight and capture the light heavyweight belt just for the fun of it. Vera repeated the claim for anyone who wanted to listen, but he wasn’t making empty threats. Many fans and media folks alike thought Vera had the tools to follow through on his promise.
I sure did, especially after his violent dispatching of Frank Mir back at UFC 65.
But then consecutive losses followed to Tim Sylvia and Fabricio Werdum, and Vera suddenly found himself scrambling to light heavyweight without the heavyweight belt. He won that 205-pound debut fight against the completely unheralded Reese Andy, but has gone just 3-3-1 since.
He wouldn’t even be on the UFC roster in 2012 if it hadn’t been for Thiago Silva’s brainiac decision to use fake urine for a drug test after beating Vera at UFC 125 early last year.
Vera survived the cut and came back to win a narrow decision over Eliot Marshall last fall. For his next trick, he’ll jump directly into the fire for the biggest fight of his life when he faces Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC on FOX in August.
This is a golden ticket. I need this. This could almost become the defining moment of my career, through all the good, the bad and the ugly. If I do this the way I’m supposed to, the way I can, the world will start following. I’m not ready to let my story come to an end. I’m not ready to retire. I’m not ready to hang up the gloves.
Vera makes a cogent point. A win over Shogun still means something—not as much as it used to, mind you, but something—and beating the former light heavyweight champion would launch Vera back to the kind of heights many assumed he’d never again attain.
But a loss to Shogun still means something, too.
A loss is a loss—especially when you’re only on the UFC roster due to a technicality. Vera isn’t stepping in on short notice, either, which means he won’t be afforded the usual grace for saving the UFC’s bacon as a late-notice replacement.
Listening to Vera, I was utterly convinced that he believes he will beat Shogun in August. And maybe he will.
But history has been full of promise for Brandon Vera, and thus far he hasn’t been able to deliver on it. Perhaps he’ll start doing so in front of the largest audience of his career, and wouldn’t that be something?
(Shogun, seen here at his all-time favorite vacation getaway.)
Not many of us could make sense of how Mauricio Rua wound up paired against Brandon Vera for the main event of UFC on FOX 4, especially when considering that a fighter of equal to greater relevance in Glover Teixeira had been favored as a replacement against Rua in Thiago Silva’s absence. “The Truth” has not fought since eeking out a decision victory over the now retired Elliot Marshall in October of 2011, and hasn’t looked like his aggressive, take no prisoners self since UFC 65. Teixeira, on the other hand, is on a 16 fight win streak, and although he is of lesser name value, would surely make for a better fight against Rua in our opinion.
Dana White initially reported that when offered the fight, Shogun’s camp wanted “nothing to do with” Teixeira, a claim that was almost instantly rebuked by Shogun’s camp. Oddly enough, after his camp rebuked such a claim, they immediately accepted a match against Vera, leading one to believe that maybe DW wasn’t bullshitting us as he’s been accused of doing before.
Well during the UFC on FX 3 post fight press conference, White divulged into the “he said/she said” speculation a little further, stating that Shogun was so against fighting Teixeira that he was willing to be cut before taking a fight with him.
A full video of the interview and transcription await you after the jump.
(Shogun, seen here at his all-time favorite vacation getaway.)
Not many of us could make sense of how Mauricio Rua wound up paired against Brandon Vera for the main event of UFC on FOX 4, especially when considering that a fighter of equal to greater relevance in Glover Teixeira had been favored as a replacement against Rua in Thiago Silva’s absence. “The Truth” has not fought since eeking out a decision victory over the now retired Elliot Marshall in October of 2011, and hasn’t looked like his aggressive, take no prisoners self since UFC 65. Teixeira, on the other hand, is on a 16 fight win streak, and although he is of lesser name value, would surely make for a better fight against Rua in our opinion.
Dana White initially reported that when offered the fight, Shogun’s camp wanted “nothing to do with” Teixeira, a claim that was almost instantly rebuked by Shogun’s camp. Oddly enough, after his camp rebuked such a claim, they immediately accepted a match against Vera, leading one to believe that maybe DW wasn’t bullshitting us as he’s been accused of doing before.
Well during the UFC on FX 3 post fight press conference, White divulged into the “he said/she said” speculation a little further, stating that Shogun was so against fighting Teixeira that he was willing to be cut before taking a fight with him.
(The question comes around the 2:50 mark.)
Here’s what The UFC Prez had to say when questioned on the issue:
Because he absolutely refused to fight him. He would rather be cut than fight him. You know what, it was one of those very wierd situations to hear one of the top five guys in the world say I’d rather be cut than fight a guy who isn’t ranked. And the reason that they were saying was because oh he’s not top ten. But then when we offer him Brandon Vera he took it in two seconds. Vera isn’t top ten either.
Someone asked me this question earlier, but the reality is that Shogun is a guy whom I respect, he been in a million wars with all the best in the world, but for some reason he does not wanna fight this dude Glover. And you know me, if you don’t want me to tell the truth, don’t say that stuff to me on the phone. That’s exactly what happened, that’s exactly the way it went down.
And me and Lorenzo said ‘Listen dude, you can’t be turning down fights at this level. With the money you’re making and where you are ranked in the world, you don’t turn down fights at this level. We might have to cut you’ and he said ‘I’d rather be cut than fight him.’
Where one can make the argument that a fight with Teixeira does little to nothing for Shogun’s status in the UFC, the same goes twice over for Vera. Say what you want about “The Truth’s” accolades and list of past opponents, but Vera is nowhere near ready for a fight with Shogun at this point in his career. As for Mauricio, it’s like DW said — he isn’t in the position to be turning down any fights in the UFC. Yes he’s a legend, but the fact is, he gets paid to fight whoever the UFC deems fit for him to fight. Plus, he’s gone win-loss in his past six fights, with only one of those victories coming over a fighter who was truly in his prime (Machida).
If he doesn’t like the fights he’s being offered, he should retire or asked to be released from his contract; it’s as simple as that. The fact that the UFC has basically catered to his demands by giving him a fight with Vera, who is even further down the rankings than Teixeira at this point, is both nonsensical and counter-intuitive to the point they are trying to make. But it’s not like they’re going to release a commodity as hot as Shogun on a whim, so perhaps it was just an empty threat more than anything.
The only reason anyone would even tune into Shogun/Vera is for the chance to see a vintage Shogun performance, and as we mentioned earlier, placing it as the headliner of a UFC on FOX card surely wont help the promotion’s ever-dwindling ratings on the network. Personally, Shogun’s ducking of this fight kind of leaves the impression that he doesn’t exactly have the title picture in mind, or would rather just take the easiest path to that shot as possible.
But what do you think of this, Potato Nation? Should Shogun be punished for such a move rather than rewarded, or has he somehow earned the right to tell his bosses how what to do?
Five years ago, UFC heavyweight sensation, Brandon Vera was the toast of the town. He was 4-0 in the UFC, with four brutal stoppages, and had just demolished former champion, Frank Mir. To say Vera’s star was on the rise would be a colossal under…
Five years ago, UFC heavyweight sensation, Brandon Vera was the toast of the town. He was 4-0 in the UFC, with four brutal stoppages, and had just demolished former champion, Frank Mir.
To say Vera’s star was on the rise would be a colossal understatement.
A couple of losses later, and the undersized heavyweight departed the land of gargantuan men for the light-heavyweight division; which is not always a wise move considering that category is populated by semi-gargantuan men who are also quick and athletic.
With that move Vera lost not only his speed advantage, but his confidence and aggression as well.
Sure, Vera beat the guys he was supposed to beat, but he fell short against top competition. It was a fight against Thiago Silva that really put a bizarre cherry on top of his stunning descent.
Very was cut after posting three straight losses. But in a peculiar twist, Silva would go on to fail a drug test. He submitted a urinalysis that wasn’t human, and was fined and suspended.
Vera’s loss was changed to a No-Contest by the Nevada State Athletic Commission and he was given another chance in the UFC.
He made the most of it by defeating Eliot Marshall in unimpressive fashion–again a guy he was supposed to beat.
Nothing wrong with that. A ‘W’ is a ‘W.’ And normally that would get him another fight against mid-level competition on the undercard. But due to a surprising series of circumstances, Vera will now face former light-heavyweight champion, Shogun Rua in the main event on the UFC on FOX 4.
Not a bad turn of events for a guy who was unemployed just a year ago.
This is Vera’s chance to get back on track.
Shogun is a rough night out for anyone not named “Bones,” but even just a good showing by Vera could get his name back into the general mixed martial arts discourse.
As much as MMA is an unforgiving sport, it’s also a sport where second, even third chances happen all the time. Sure, a fighter can suffer an injury that shelves him for a year. No fight, no pay. But one man’s misfortune is another man’s gain.
It’s because of the UFC’s latest injury bug, which in this particular case claimed Michael Bisping and Brian Stann, that Vera is in this position.
The circumstances that brought him to this place have been happenstance. The rest is up to Vera.
The UFC’s incredibly annoying run of injuries has held strong over the last few days, and one of the latest fights to get scrapped was the one-time UFC on FOX 4 main event between Brian Stann and Hector Lombard. Stann was forced from the bout wit…
The UFC’s incredibly annoying run of injuries has held strong over the last few days, and one of the latest fights to get scrapped was the one-time UFC on FOX 4 main event between Brian Stann and Hector Lombard.
Stann was forced from the bout with a shoulder injury and Lombard has since been moved to the UFC 149 card in order to replace Michael Bisping against Tim Boetsch.
But in the spot that Lombard and Stann once occupied, the UFC has added a light heavyweight battle that may not make the most sense as far as rankings are concerned, but it is guaranteed to be exciting.
Shogun Rua is currently trying to get back on track after suffering a decision loss to Dan Henderson in one of the greatest fights in MMA history back at UFC 139, and his new opponent Brandon Vera, who was cut from the UFC as recently as last spring, is now being thrust back into the main-event picture.
The fight is one of the most unexpected bouts the UFC has announced for some time, but due to the insane amount of injuries and fights being cancelled, fans seem to be giving UFC matchmaker Joe Silva the benefit of the doubt with this matchup.
Remember the days, way back in 2006, when 
Five years ago, UFC heavyweight sensation,