Brandon Vera suffered a first round TKO in his last fight against Fabricio Werdum in controversial fashion, and he's still not happy about it. He's making the drop to the light heavyweight division for an upcoming fight against UFC newcomer Reese Andy at UFC's Fight Night 14 on July 19, and I had a chance to quickly speak with him to get his thoughts on Werdum, Andy, and the UFC's global expansion.
Jamie Penick: Brandon, you're coming off of a pretty controversial loss to Fabricio Werdum at the last UFC show, and I know many were thinking you might be looking for a rematch there, so what made you decide to drop to light heavyweight for this next fight?
Brandon Vera: Fabricio told me in the Octagon that he did want to do a rematch, and then when we got to the press conference he told me he didn't want to do a rematch. I needed to go ahead and fight right away again, and the UFC said they needed me at 205 so, I went ahead and got it done.
JP: Well speaking of the 205, Brandon, what's your experience with cutting weight in the past and how do you think it will affect your performance here?
BV: I haven't cut weight since 1999, but I'm walking around right now, at lunch, I'm at 220, 217, so I'm chillin, it hasn't affected me much. I just had to stop eating the foods that I really, really like, and start eating the foods that I'm supposed to be eating. But will it affect me? I don't know how it's going to affect me but I'm excited to find out.
JP: What are your plans on staying at 205? Do you think you'll stick around there for a little while, or is this just something where you're just looking to get this fight in right now and then move on from there?
BV: Let me get this fight and then we'll move on from there. First and foremost I want that rematch with Fabricio, but until that happens, I mean, let's see what the UFC wants to do with me.
JP: What do you know about your opponent here, Reese Andy, who's making his debut in the UFC?
BV: I know that he's a three time All American wrestler and that he's pretty good on the ground. I watched his match with Fabricio Werdum at the Abu Dhabi's (ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship) and he went pretty good with him, with Fabricio until he got caught at the very end.
JP: There's been some talk of the UFC possibly running a show in the Phillipines, with your background are you excited about that talk and do you plan on being on that card?
BV: Hell yeah, am I excited about that? Super hell yeah. I'm super excited about the Phillipines card, it's almost like a dream come true.
JP: Back to light heavyweights, you've got Rampage Jackson and Forrest Griffin on this upcoming card, are you planning on calling out either man if you pick up that victory on the 19th?
BV: Nah, no plans on calling anybody out, man. I have some improvements, some self improvements to do, and I'm pretty pissed about the last fight so the only person I'm gonna call out again is Fabricio Werdum. And let's not look past Reese Andy right now, let's go ahead and handle this fight right now and go on and see what happens.
JP: If you get your rematch with Fabricio after this fight, do you see yourself dropping back down to light heavyweight? You've got a lot of possible opponents down there and I know one of the comments on you in the past has been about the size disparity in heavyweight and how you may find more suitable size matchups in light heavyweight.
BV: We'll see. As I said, we'll see what the UFC designs, and what the management group wants to set up.
JP: What are your thoughts on Lorenzo Fertitta's move to UFC full time? Do you think it's going to help with this goal of branching out to different spots in the world and are you on with Dana White's comment that [MMA] will be the biggest sport in eight years?
BV: I am for sure. I mean, the UFC's blowing up, man, people don't even refer to it as MMA anymore, they're more like, "hey you fight UFC?" It doesn't matter what show it is, people are just calling it "UFC," that's how branded the UFC is. It's almost like a household name, and it's growing exponentially. Right when you think it's peaking, and there's a roof, it blows right through and moves on to becoming more and more and more and just shows more growth. It's hard to explain. Dana White's doing a good job, Zuffa, INC. is doing a great job with promoting the UFC and I'm behind them 100%.
JP: Any final thoughts going into your fight in a couple of weeks and any plans beyond that?
BV: I just want to tell the fans thank you for your support, man, like I told you from the first show, I want to hold both belts at the same time, it's just going to take a little bit longer than I thought. There's going to be ups and downs, highs and lows, and we'll ride the waves. If you wanna jump off, because you're one of those people, please jump off now.
