Comments on: Brandon Vera close to signing new contract; next fight expected to come against Mike Patt at UFC 96

By: Matthew

Matthew — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 14:38:07 +0000

I’m Filipino and i want Brandon to do well but i do believe that they resigned him with the same lucrative deal even with the sub par performances of late because he’s Filipino and he’s someone they can use to promote the UFC in the Philippines. i think he’s a very talented guy with huge potential but he seems to have thought he was “the man” even before he really did anything (i present the one year out of the UFC because of a contract dispute as evidence). he should do less talking and more training. he needs to seek better coaching, better sparring partners, better conditioning programs, etc… i remember him complaining that keith took him down during their fight, OF COURSE keith took him down! if that’s the way he can guarantee a win for himself then he’ll do it! a verbal agreement that they’ll keep it standing was silly, it’s MMA not Muay Thai. and to clarify i’m not disappointed that brandon has done 1-3 of late, it’s because of the quality of his fights or lack of that is. if he went 0-4 but he had trained as smart and hard as he could and left it all in the ring it would have been enough but that was not the case.

By: sellysel

sellysel — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 05:01:27 +0000

its true he does not deserve that money again but you do understand that fighters like fitch or guys thats are at the top in main events co headlines etc don’t only receive there base salary.. jon fitch’s salary is way lower but he and dana were quoted saying he got 169,000 to lose to st pierre. the ufc does not disclose any additional money they give to fighters that are in crappy contracts doing big fights..

By: portland mma

portland mma — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 19:12:00 +0000

what in the world happened to Vera? Does anyone remember his dismantling of Mir a few years ago? I think Vera was the future, but “the Truth” is you suck now Brandon and the only thing keeping you afloat is your Filipino heritage. I think all leagues need to make a deal not to work with Mark Dion (Drew Rosenhaus of mma). He got Vera his original insane contract, got Noons to make all his genius decisions with the Diaz rematch.

“Look at Brandon Vera,” Dion said. “He had a long layoff, but he’s making more money than the No. 1 ranked [expletive] fighter in the world, Anderson Silva — or the same amount.

You dont look so smart now Mark.

By: Rich S.

Rich S. — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 18:53:57 +0000

freedom fighter,
he sure didn’t get shot.. and that’s great..
but can you imagine the emotional trauma that could be caused by an incident like that? Apparently, you can’t…

By: freedom fighter

freedom fighter — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 17:52:54 +0000

hey rich s.did he get shot no so please don’t make excuses for him,if he was unable to fight he should have pulled out.he is suppose to be a professional.he is just not that good of a fighter i mean please he barely got past reese and werdum kicked his butt.so he is an overhyped overpaid fighter.he could albeit still get his mojo back but who really cares he will never win a bely in the ufc…

By: Sergio Hernandez

Sergio Hernandez — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 15:52:35 +0000

Vera’s star has definitely lost some of it’s luster lately.

He still deserves to be in the UFC, albeit at a lower price tag. At least until he starts living up to the potential he showed when he burst onto the scene.

By: platypus

platypus — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 15:47:00 +0000

vera is a great fighter but hasnt been impressive in his last few fights. hes young though and talented, he will get it back on track. his potential is clearly there, and nowadays being a minority is an advantage =)

By: Glen McCoy

Glen McCoy — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 08:58:24 +0000

The fighters that Dana likes he will feed them no talent till they get a win.

By: BigDave

BigDave — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 05:27:52 +0000

I’ll be the first to say that Vera has talent but his over inflated ego is what has been his biggest problem. He just doesnt seem to realize to be a good fighter you need to come in to it in shape and train hard which its been very obvious to me he hasnt been doing. Maybe he needs a change of team or really needs to get hurt in a fight to realize that he needs to get his act together. I would not be suprised atol if he loses this fight. He most certainly is not near the top level guys at LH in any respect at the moment.

By: dpk

dpk — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 04:21:11 +0000

I’m sure that Vera is taking a pay cut. He is still young and talented, but he hasn’t exactly been lighting the world up to justify his last contract. This looks like a fight that they can get him a win, so that he can at least co-headline the card in the Philippines this summer.

By: awesome21

awesome21 — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 23:48:38 +0000

on a side note, any know what now happened to the betting game of this guy and roger huerta? cause I’ve seen the video where they both bet on the pacquiao vs dela hoya fight and the loser would wear a chicken suit. thanks.

By: Rich S.

Rich S. — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 21:27:37 +0000

Eh,
Everybody hates Vera these days..

apparently, beating alot of people senseless, then losing a couple fights to the UFC’s top competition [Silvia, Werdum, Jardine] means you’re overhyped and not good at fighting..

i’m not buying that BS..

i think Vera has great talent.. his muay thai is sick, and although we don’t see much JJ from him, it’s good enough to keep him in the fight..

I can understand the loss to Sylvia.. Tim’s a former champion and wayyyyy bigger than Vera, all he needed to do was hold Vera to the cage and keep from taking any damage to win, and he did just that [as annoying and cheap as it may be]

I can understand the loss to Werdum.. Werdum is a top level HW fighter.. Vera couldn’t really get his strikes off in that fight, and IT WAS INDEED a bad stoppage.. Vera was talking to the referee.. if you can talk, you can stay in the fight..

and i don’t know if many people heard [i don't think 5oz did a story on it]
but just 2 weeks before the Jardine fight, Vera was held at gunpoint during a robbery that took place at Lloyd Irvin’s house, where he was staying..

I can only imagine how that affected Vera mentally..
So, no matter how he performed, i will definitely attribute part of Vera’s loss to that..

Vera has all the talent in the world, but his mental game just hasn’t been there since his loss to Sylvia..

maybe an impressive KO victory here can get him back on the right track..

By: mburtoni

mburtoni — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 21:27:01 +0000

Clearly a gimme fight for Vera. He better win this one.

By: RUSH

RUSH — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 21:06:18 +0000

Patt looked out of shape and god awful against Tim Boetsch at ufc 88, and I’d fully expect Vera to walk right through him. Maybe thats what Vera needs, I don’t know but I’d prefer to see him thrown against a tough 205′er like Cane, Boetsch or Bonnar to see if he can sink or swim in that division.

By: obamasaidknockyouout

obamasaidknockyouout — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 21:04:18 +0000

I am sure he is taking a huge pay cut. The guy is still a talent. He just needs to get that killer instinct back.

By: JOe K.

JOe K. — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 20:48:55 +0000

I can’t believe they are re-signing him. It must be because they are trying to establish a market in the Philippines.

He was making an incredible amount for each fight. Jardine got 14000 for a co-main event with Wanderlei Silva and Vera gets 200,000 for beating Reese Andy for a Unanimous decision.

I think he gets more than, Rich Franklin, Sean Sherk, Rashad Evans!?! He’s as high paid as Wanderlei Silva and Forrest Griffen.

If he is getting more money or even as much money than before then other fighters are getting screwed unless the UFC is raising the pay as their contracts expire.

This is preposterous! He should get demoted, he has lost 3 of his last 4. I can see why Huerta complained.