Tag: Mauricio Rua

UFC on FOX 4: Does Brandon Vera Really Have a Shot at Beating Shogun Rua?

When UFC President Dana White recently announced that the winner of Saturday night’s main event bout may be in line for a title, fans and analysts alike were left scratching their heads—mostly at the possibility that Brandon Vera may get the nod….

When UFC President Dana White recently announced that the winner of Saturday night’s main event bout may be in line for a title, fans and analysts alike were left scratching their heads—mostly at the possibility that Brandon Vera may get the nod.

Vera, who was once one of the UFC’s biggest prospects, has only won one fight since 2009 and is the heavy underdog against former champ Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. While anything can happen in MMA, the chances of Vera coming out victorious at UFC on FOX 4 are slim.

“The Truth” has had trouble in the past with high level strikers and is severely mismatched against Rua standing up.

Prior to his recent win over Eliot Marshall, Vera was soundly beaten down by Muay Thai specialist Thiago Silva at UFC 125 and would have been cut by the promotion had Silva not falsified his urine sample. 

Even before that bout Vera was completely dominated by the current champ Jon Jones, another telling sign that “the Truth” just can’t hang with the upper echelon of the division.

Rua, a Top Five 205-pounder, is one of the most dangerous strikers in the division and will likely overwhelm Vera with his powerful kicks and punches. Vera’s only real shot at beating Rua is if he takes the fight to the ground, an unlikely feat due to “the Truth’s” underwhelming ground skills. 

And with this fight most likely staying standing, Vera really doesn’t stand a chance. Unless Rua comes into this bout out of shape—a very unlikely occurrence due to the possible title shot for the winner—it will take a miracle for Vera to get the win.

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UFC on FOX 4 Weigh-in Results for Shogun Rua vs. Brandon Vera Fight Card

The UFC will take its show to the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Saturday for UFC on FOX 4. Headlining the fight card will be two light-heavyweight scraps. In the main event Mauricio “Shogun” Rua will face Brandon Vera, while in the co-main event Lyo…

The UFC will take its show to the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Saturday for UFC on FOX 4. Headlining the fight card will be two light-heavyweight scraps. In the main event Mauricio “Shogun” Rua will face Brandon Vera, while in the co-main event Lyoto Machida will meet Ryan Bader. 

UFC president Dana White has said that the fighter that is most impressive in victory in these fights will move on to face the winner of the September 1 title fight between champion Jon Jones and challenger Dan Henderson. For Rua and Machida, that would mean a shot at regaining the title they both once held, while for Vera and Bader it would mark their first shot at UFC gold.

Also appearing on the FOX portion of the card will be a lightweight bout between Joe Lauzon and the resurgent Jamie Varner. Opening the FOX televised card will be Mike Swick versus DaMarques Johnson.

Full weigh-in results

Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (205) vs. Brandon Vera (203.8)

Lyoto Machida (201) vs. Ryan Bader (205)

Joe Lauzon (155.8) vs. Jamie Varner (156)

Mike Swick (170) vs. DaMarques Johnson (171)

Cole Miller (145) vs. Nam Phan (145)

Phil Davis (205.5) vs. Wagner Prado (205)

Josh Grispi (146) vs. Rani Yahya (145.5)

Phil De Fries (235) vs. Oli Thompson (232)

Manny Gamburyan (145.5) vs. Michihiro Omigawa (145.5)

Ulysses Gomez (125.5) vs. John Moraga (125.5)

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UFC on FOX: Why Shogun Rua Will Crush Brandon Vera

UFC on FOX is a big event, hence increased coverage. In this case, one of the assignments was why Shogun Rua will crush Brandon Vera at Staples Center in Los Angeles tomorrow night. Usually, such assignments lend themselves to slideshows because there …

UFC on FOX is a big event, hence increased coverage.

In this case, one of the assignments was why Shogun Rua will crush Brandon Vera at Staples Center in Los Angeles tomorrow night. Usually, such assignments lend themselves to slideshows because there are a host of reasons to argue why one guy will beat another—or vice versa.

But you know what? Not this time.

The reason is pretty simple: Brandon Vera isn’t in Shogun’s league.

He’s barely in Elliott Marshall’s league actually.

He shouldn’t be in the UFC.

He surely doesn’t deserve this chance he’s getting; marketing efforts and the silver tongue of Dana White be damned.

And that’s why an elite mixed martial artist, a former champion in multiple organizations coming off a Fight of the Year against the current top contender (like Rua) is going to demolish him.

The fact is that Vera can strike a little bit. But this isn’t a Thai boxing, and even if it was, he’s probably not on Shogun’s level. Plus, if Dan Henderson isn’t putting Rua away, Vera sure isn’t. They could give him a bat and it wouldn’t make any difference.

And that’s his best chance at victory.

He’s a serviceable grappler, but Rua has tight jiu-jitsu that people rarely see because he loves to slug it out so much. It’s, at best, a wash. At worst, it’s a place Vera absolutely doesn’t want to contest the fight.

Then again, is there any surprise that a guy not in the Top 30 of any sensible ranking in the universe has nothing on paper for a consensus Top 5 guy and likely one of the best pure martial artists in the division?

No.

Look, call this fight what you want. The chance of a lifetime. A real-life Rocky moment. An effort by the UFC to put an exciting main event on FOX. Whatever.

Realistically, it’s a joke as much as anything.

Brandon Vera hasn’t won a name fight since 2006 against a Frank Mir that had recently almost died in a motorcycle accident. He did nothing to earn this, he was basically just a warm body that could weigh 205 lbs when the UFC needed him to. That’s likely to be reflected in the outcome on Saturday night.

So why is Shogun Rua going to demolish Brandon Vera? Because he’s one of the best in the world, and he’s going into the cage to fight a guy who once needed the judges to confirm he’d bested Reese Andy.

That says it all.

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UFC on Fox 4: Mauricio Rua Will Take Down Brandon Vera

Brandon Vera’s nickname might be “The Truth,” but after UFC on Fox 4 concludes, he’ll need to deal with the harsh truth that Mauricio Rua defeated him on national television.This isn’t the first time Vera was scheduled to main event a UFC cable program…

Brandon Vera‘s nickname might be “The Truth,” but after UFC on Fox 4 concludes, he’ll need to deal with the harsh truth that Mauricio Rua defeated him on national television.

This isn’t the first time Vera was scheduled to main event a UFC cable program; he was initially scheduled to fight Thiago Silva at the UFC on FX 3 event, but he was unable to due to injury.

Even though Rua has been up and down in his past five UFC bouts, Vera having an injury just six months ago leads one to question how healthy he is feeling.

Rua is four years younger than his veteran opponent, and while both have been in the sport since 2002, Rua has more matches over his career as well as more knockouts.

In fact, Rua’s 17 career knockouts are 10 more than Vera’s total and are just one shy from equaling Vera’s career wins.

The man known as “Shogun” realizes that you should never underestimate your opponent, however, telling John Morgan from MMA Junkie:

I have a lot of respect for Brandon Vera…The guy has a great background in the business of MMA. I think he deserves [to be in the main event], just like many other guys who have been on the road for a long time.

Rua owns victories over MMA legend Chuck Liddell, Lyoto Machida and Forest Griffin over his past six matches. He realizes that a dominant performance against Vera on Fox would vastly help his chances of obtaining a title shot.

Vera is a formidable opponent who will be looking to erase people’s memory of his inability to fight at UFC on FX 3 with a win over Rua, but Shogun simply has too much talent to lose this bout.

The fight has the potential to be a close one, but all it could take is some deadly combinations or one tight-locked submission for Shogun to take Vera down early in this one.

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UFC on Fox: Shogun vs. Vera Bleacher Report MMA Staff Predictions

This fourth installment of UFC on Fox features two titillating bouts at 205 pounds, with the winner of each destined for a second meeting with UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones. In the main event of the evening, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua t…

This fourth installment of UFC on Fox features two titillating bouts at 205 pounds, with the winner of each destined for a second meeting with UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones. 

In the main event of the evening, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua takes on Brandon “The Truth” Vera to see which fighter can turn in a vintage performance and get a shot at the gold.

Meanwhile, Ryan “Darth” Bader squares off against Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida in the co-main event to stake their claim at the coveted light heavyweight title.

In a lightweight showdown, Joe Lauzon squares off with former WEC 155-pound champion Jamie Varner in a bout that will likely separate contender from pretender.

Kicking off the main card, The Ultimate Fighter Season 9 runner-up DaMarques “Darkness” Johnson takes on a Season 1 alumnus in Mike “Quick” Swick, who returns after a nearly 30-month layoff.

Predicting the action this week are Bleacher Report MMA Featured Columnists Jeffrey McKinney, Dan Hiergesell, Dale De Souza and myself, John Heinis. 

Take a look inside to see who’s getting their hand raised Saturday night.

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UFC on FOX 4: Jon Jones Gives His Predictions for Saturday’s Headlining Fights

If we take what UFC president Dana White says as gospel, the next individual to fight for the UFC light heavyweight title will be one of the four fighters competing in the headlining bouts on Saturday’s UFC on FOX 4 fight card.During his recent v…

If we take what UFC president Dana White says as gospel, the next individual to fight for the UFC light heavyweight title will be one of the four fighters competing in the headlining bouts on Saturday’s UFC on FOX 4 fight card.

During his recent video blog White said, “the co-main event between Lyoto Machida and (Ryan) Bader and the main event between Shogun (Rua) and (Brandon) Vera, the fighter that wins the most impressively on Saturday night will get the title shot.”

So, there you have it, after originally saying the winner of the Mauricio “Shogun” Rua versus Brandon Vera fight would get the title shot, White added another wrinkle, upping the ante by including the Lyoto Machida versus Ryan Bader bout in the mix. And why shouldn’t he have done so?  It ups interest in the fight card and puts pressure on the fighters, sending a clear message that it’s up to them to earn their shot at UFC gold.

One interested observer took to Twitter to offer his take on the fights and each participant, that man was current UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, who offered his predictions on Saturday’s main event and co-main event via twitter:

My prediction: I got Shogun by decision after a predominant striking match. Vera could make it more interesting if he uses take downs

As for the co-main event:

I could see Machida stopping the fight, out classing Bader with good foot work and fast strikes. Bader needs to turn it into a brawl

So, the champ thinks that the two former UFC light heavyweight champions will prove victorious and lest we forget, Jones has faced the four fighters competing in the headlining bouts on the FOX card, winning all four fights by stoppage.

In addition to his predictions, Jones offered some takeaways from those four victories:

Before you get in some kind of uproar over that last tweet, and sound off on how arrogant the champ is, he quickly followed it up with this:

Just having a little fun. I really do want to wish all 4 guys good luck this weekend. Do your best, Ill do mines on the 1st.

The September 1 fight Jones references is his UFC 151 main event tilt against former Pride and Strikeforce champion Dan Henderson. The two will headline that event from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, NV.

The Henderson bout will be the fourth attempted defense of the title for Jones. In his three previous defenses he dispatched three former UFC light heavyweight champions, Machida, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Rashad Evans. Only Evans went the distance. 

Jones is currently riding a seven-fight winning streak and the only blemish on his record (16-1) came when he was disqualified for delivering illegal 12-to-6 elbows to the head of Matt Hamill .

Henderson is on a winning streak of his own, defeating his last four opponents to run his career record to 29-8. The last time we saw Henderson in the Octagon was at UFC 139, where he gained a unanimous decision victory over Rua in a fight that many billed as one of the top fights in the history of the UFC.

On Saturday one question will be answered in the light heavyweight division, as the next title contender will emerge. The second question, will that fighter face Jones or Henderson? Well, we’ll know the answer to that one in a few weeks.

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