I still have no idea how Brandon Vera managed to fight at heavyweight. This whole cutting weight and bulking up stuff just seems like magic to me. A few hundred years ago guys like Mike Dolce would have been burned at the stake for the way they manipulate body weight. I understand water loading, but that leads to horrible complications later on, as Anthony Johnson’s kidneys can attest. Whatever fight nutritionists and dieticians are doing, just like any sufficiently advanced technology, is indistinguishable from magic. Whether Vera constantly cuts a lot of weight, or he bulked up to fight at heavyweight I do not know. All I know is that 205lbs is a much better weight class for him, from what I’ve seen.

I was about to say that the problem with fighting at a more natural weight is that light heavyweight is a very dangerous division but I deleted that because I realised it was not only a cliché but also a straight up ridiculous comment to make. Aside from the four man flyweight division, I can’t think of a division that isn’t totally rammed with dangerous fighters. That’s kind of the whole point of the UFC. My case in point was going to be that the number of former champions at light heavyweight lining up for another shot at gold means getting to the title requires you to go through at least one former titleholder which is exactly what Vera is faced with after stepping up to replace Thiago Silva.

The analogy is pretty much dead so I’ll just straight up say that Shogun Rua will be fighting Brandon Vera, who was training to face James Te Huna at UFC on Fuel TV 4 on July 11. Shogun Vera will be a five-round headline bout on August 4th’s UFC on Fox 4 card. I might be alone here, but I think Thiago Silva’s injuries have given us a pretty exciting match-up. Anyone want to predict a submission victory? [source]

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+11 # Guest 2012-06-07 08:46

BOOOOOOOOOO

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+4 # Sidecheckkick 2012-06-07 09:00

Poor guy

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+8 # Guest 2012-06-07 09:50

If it stays standing it will be a technical Muay Thai fight,but shogun has some world class trips which he'll probably use after the silva fight!

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+17 # JohnDanahersHair 2012-06-07 09:05

Everyone thinks thiago silva DEMOLISHED vera but if you watch the fight whenever they were on the feet silva was getting LIT up...vera's a solid kick boxer so hopefully this will be an exciting muay thai match...That being said WAR SHOGUN

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-2 # Sherko 2012-06-07 11:38

Really? Getting lit up?
I smoke way too much to remember that fight entirely but I really can't remember him getting lit up.

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+6 # JohnDanahersHair 2012-06-07 11:43

Lit up may be a bit of an understatement but I re-watched it recently, he had a pretty big advantage on the feet with silva throwing slow bombs and vera was throwing high kicks with 1-2 combos..Obvious ly the roids showed cuz silva just manhandled him on the ground

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-2 # Sambro 2012-06-07 12:43

Silva was getting popped, but he was pretty much walking through everything that was thrown at him.

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+3 # aint.that.a.kick.in.the.head 2012-06-07 09:27

This is a bad idea

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+5 # Guest 2012-06-07 12:42

I agree. Maybe not for the same reason's though. Vera has shown scary ability in between very shitty outings. However, in a pure striking fight, Vera COULD end Shogun's night. Which would be bad for everyone not named Brandon Vera.

Shogun wins, eh. Vera was on the downhill slide for a while anyway. But Vera wins? Fuck me.

While I still would bet on Shogun if I had to, I would only be mildly shocked if Vera pulled an upset (also given Rua's penchant for sometimes lackluster UFC outings ads to this.)

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+2 # aint.that.a.kick.in.the.head 2012-06-07 15:23

%100

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+6 # Guest 2012-06-07 09:37

i thought vera was dead

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+27 # aint.that.a.kick.in.the.head 2012-06-07 09:55

he will be now

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-3 # Guest 2012-06-07 09:37

Quoting JohnDanahersHair:

Everyone thinks thiago silva DEMOLISHED vera but if you watch the fight whenever they were on the feet silva was getting LIT up...vera's a solid kick boxer so hopefully this will be an exciting muay thai match...That being said WAR SHOGUN

Shoguns going to take him down and smash him in the first round.

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+7 # Guest 2012-06-07 09:40

What has Vera shown in his last few matches, that would make him appealing for a main event on Fox? Not to mention, just look how god awful UFC 147 is right now and yet they still have it as a PPV....

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-9 # Guest 2012-06-07 11:05

R.I.P. Shogun

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+17 # Guest 2012-06-07 11:09

Dear Vera,

The good news is that Shogun wont use your back as a drum. The bad news is that he is way better than Thiago Silva.

Good luck, you will need it.

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+24 # JohnDanahersHair 2012-06-07 11:45

The bad news is hes going to use his face as a drum lmao

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-1 # Guest 2012-06-07 12:06

Lets not forget BV tore through some big names while at HW. Maybe it's the only way to get Vera to perform and not put fans to sleep.

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+2 # Twinny 2012-06-07 15:58

that was back when the HW division was a joke.

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+4 # Sambro 2012-06-07 12:44

I'll be disappointed if Shogun doesnt finish it in the 1st round.

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+2 # purplechewbacca 2012-06-07 20:56

after watching shogun vs hendo, i want shogun just to put on fights exactly like that, but declared the winner of course.

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+1 # noreaga 2012-06-07 12:52

brandon vera is really tall and this will be a sweet kickboxing match

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+8 # Yoshinegro_Blackiyama 2012-06-07 13:01

Brandon 'the sacrificial lamb' Vera

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+1 # Guest 2012-06-07 15:08

I've seen complaints around the internets about this fight. I don't see any reason to complain. Why?

Shogun is a headline fighter. Putting him as the main event on a Fox card is a great idea. It doesn't matter much to me who the pit him against. You see the name 'Shogun' and you know it'll be an awesome fight.

Brandon Vera was(still is, to a certain extent) a main card fighter. He's had his ups and downs, but look at his last few fights. He only got beaten by Jones and a roided up Silva. He lost a controversial decision against Couture. And he definitely lost the 3rd round in the Marshall fight.

If Vera just fought like he did against Mike Patt, Justin Eilers, and Assuerio Silva, then this'll be entertaining. If not, he's out the UFC.

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+2 # Guest 2012-06-07 15:48

Vera has legitimate skills and seems like a good dude. He might not be at the top of the ladder, and I don't know that he "deserves" the Shogun fight, but for once, I'm not going to bitch incessantly about rankings. I'm going to sit back and enjoy what I hope is a Muay Thai clinic until Shogun punches Vera's ticket.

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0 # Guest 2012-06-07 16:07

*Baroni sumo taunt

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+3 # Guest 2012-06-07 17:05

This fight being on Fox is embarrassing. Eliot Marhsall was beating the shit out of Brandon Vera on the feet.

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+1 # Guest 2012-06-08 00:03

Vera didn't bulk up for heavyweight or lose a particularly large amount to get down to 205. He was a small heavyweight but talented enough to do well in a weak division. He walked around lighter than light heavies like Tito, Forrest and Rampage even then. Basically all he did was he just didn't cut any water weight, now he does.

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0 # Kieran McNairn 2012-06-08 02:26

I knew somebody would know!

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0 # Guest 2012-06-09 07:44

Quoting noreaga:

brandon vera is really tall and this will be a sweet kickboxing match

Shoguns going to clinch and trip him to the ground the first chance he gets. Look at the overeem fights and cyrille diabate fight. He's got nothing to prove on his feet when the obvious gameplan is to bring it to the ground.

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