Brandon Vera News

Tom Taylor - October 2, 2019

ONE heavyweight champ Brandon Vera has been dreaming of becoming a two-division titleholder since his days in the UFC. At ONE: Century – Part 2, scheduled for October 13 in Tokyo, he’ll have the chance to make that dream come true when he challenges Aung La N Sang for the ONE light heavyweight strap. Vera says he’s feeling better than ever as this career-defining challenge draws closer.

BJPENN.COM Staff - September 27, 2019

Brandon Vera is looking to lodge his own special accomplishment with ONE Championship. The ONE Heavyweight World Champion is challenging ONE Light Heavyweight, and Middleweight World Champion Aung La N Sang for his light heavyweight belt. The bout will take place later this year in Tokyo in the promotion’s second visit to Japan.  Aung La and Vera aren’t the first ONE Championship athletes to have two titles or dream of multi-division success.  

Tom Taylor - September 26, 2019

Dwayne Johnson, better known as “The Rock,” is a big MMA fan. The pro wrestling legend and Hollywood actor often rubs shoulders with the stars of the fight game, such as current ONE Championship heavyweight kingpin Brandon Vera. The Rock and Vera recently sat down to discuss a number of topics, including The Rock’s latest film project Hobbs & Shaw, and Vera’s upcoming title fight with ONE Light Heavyweight Champion Aung La N Sang.

Adam Martin - August 6, 2019

Former WWE superstar ‘”The Rock” interviewed ONE Championship heavyweight champion Brandon Vera before his next title fight. Check out the video below, courtesy of ONE.

Tom Taylor - April 16, 2019

Shortly after Aung La N Sang defended his ONE Championship Middleweight World Title with a knockout of Ken Hasegawa at ONE: A New Era in March, he was joined in the cage by ONE Heavyweight Champion Brandon Vera and ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong. It was announced right then and there, in front of throngs of Japanese fans, that Aung La would defend his other World Title — the ONE light heavyweight belt — against the heavyweight champ Vera.

BJPENN.COM Staff - January 6, 2019

Brandon “The Truth” Vera is the reigning ONE Heavyweight World Champion. The 41-year-old Filipino is one of five Filipino champions under the promotion’s banner. While Vera is a champion today, he has had to endure some significant hardships on his way to his current spot. Overcoming Adversity

Tom Taylor - November 23, 2018

ONE: Conquest of Champions, which went down in Manila, The Philippines on Friday night (Friday morning in North America), did not disappoint. To the elation of the deafeningly loud crowd in attendance, two Filipinos left the arena with belts wrapped round their waists, as Brandon Vera sniped Mauro Cerilli to retain his ONE heavyweight title, and Eduard Folayang out-duelled Amir Khan to capture the vacant ONE lightweight strap. Eduard Folayang battled Amir Khan in the card’s co-main event. While Singapore’s Khan enjoyed some success in the first frame, Folayang came alive in the second, and did not relent until the end of the fifth. The Filipino champion, who is now the first two-time titleholder in ONE lightweight history, punished his dangerous foe with a stunning breadth of spinning attacks — just what we’ve come to expect from the top fighters out of the belt-hoarding Team Lakay gym.

BJPENN.COM Staff - November 21, 2018

He hasn’t been inside the ONE Championship cage for almost two years, but Brandon Vera insists he is faster and stronger than ever as he bids to defend his ONE Heavyweight World Title against Cage Warriors champion Mauro Cerilli at ONE: Conquest of Champions this Friday, November 23 in Manila, The Philippines.  “Everybody’s worried that it’s been nearly two years, but it doesn’t feel like that to me,” the Filipino-American Brandon Vera said. “I’ve been doing action stuff, and I’ve been training on my days off. I’ve really been just working.

Tom Taylor - October 25, 2018

At long last, ONE Championship heavyweight kingpin Brandon Vera is once again set to defend his title. The Filipino-American striking specialist will do so on November 23 in Manila, The Philippines, where he will battle Italy’s Mauro “The Hammer” Cerilli. This news was first reported by MMA-Today’s Al Zullino, and subsequently announced by the promotion. 

BJPENN.COM Staff - October 25, 2018

Every current titleholder with ONE Championship has had to battle their way to the top. Some are young and undefeated, others are seasoned martial artists who hit their strides later in their careers.  Today, we look at each of their careers and identified the signature victory in their ONE Championship journey.

Tom Taylor - October 24, 2018

ONE heavyweight champion Brandon Vera has not defended his title since December of 2016, when he authored a devastating knockout of Japan’s Hideki Sekine. The reason for his long absence since then is not due to injury or illness, but to a budding film career in The Philippines. “It’s been my calculated choice,” Brandon Vera said of his layoff on episode 102 of BJPENN.COM Radio. “When I say calculated choice, I asked permission before I went away for so long, from everyone, so that I could shoot a movie in the Philippines. It was called BuyBust. It was a huge action film from The Philippines, shown all over the world. It was a really good project. Even if I had to do it all over again, I would. The time versus sacrifice, yeah, it was definitely worth it. It was an experience.”

Tom Taylor - October 22, 2018

Brandon Vera has been a ONE Championship fighter since 2014. In the years since he joined the ONE Championship roster, he’s fought in his ancestral homeland of The Philippines, become one of the promotion’s biggest stars, and even captured its heavyweight title. To say Brandon Vera has enjoyed his time with ONE would be understatement. Speaking on episode 102 of BJPENN.COM Radio, Vera heaped praised on the Asian MMA powerhouse.

Tom Taylor - May 28, 2017

Earlier this month, the UFC shipped nearly its entire roster out to Las Vegas for a special, weekend-long athletes retreat. Though the hope was that this would be a purely fruitful weekend for the 400+ fighters in attendance, it will probably be remembered most for a heated blowout between UFC featherweight star Cris “Cyborg” Justino and UFC strawweight Angela Magana. This blowout, which stemmed from nasty comments Magana made about Cyborg on social media, ended with Cyborg punching Magana in the face. In the wake of this ugly run-in, Magana has opted to press charges, while Cyborg has scolded her for cyber bullying. Meanwhile, many members of the MMA community have weighed in on the issue, siding with one side or the other. One of the latest to do so is Brandon Vera, a founder of Alliance MMA, where Magana trains.

Russell Ess - February 8, 2017

https://youtu.be/NzlCooWoK6I ONE Championship heavyweight world champion Brandon Vera has done most of his talking in the cage with his vicious striking game.

Tom Taylor - December 2, 2016

https://youtu.be/wEXb_ielH5Y Last December, UFC veteran Brandon Vera won the vacant One Championship heavyweight title with a thunderous first-round knockout of late-replacement Paul Cheng. Almost a full year later, Vera finally defended that title. He did so against the 43-year-old Hideki “Big Body” Sekine – who is also nicknamed “Shrek” – in the main event of One Championship: Age of Domination in the Philippines.