Brandon Vera believes Amir Aliakbari’s losses have "humbled him"

Brandon Vera believes his ONE 164 opponent Amir Aliakbari was quickly humbled after his first two appearances inside the circle.

On Saturday, December 3, ‘The Truth’ returns to the circle for the first time in about 18 months. Coming off back-to-back losses, Vera finds himself in a win-or-go-home situation against a dangerous Iranian wrestler in Aliakbari. Discussing his opponent’s run in ONE Championship with The MMA Superfan, Vera said:

“You literally know, you don’t know what the hell’s gonna happen. I think since that it has happened to him, he’s calmed down so much, his fans have calmed down so much. He’s humbled himself. Even against his last match with Cerilli he didn’t look confident that he was gonna win.”

The 34-year-old Grecco-Roman world champion made his ONE Championship debut at ONE: Fists of Fury II against Kang Ji Won. Things did not go Aliakbari’s way that evening, as he suffered a first-round knockout just 1:54 minutes into the contest. Six months later, he returned to the circle against Anatoly Malykhin, the current ONE interim heavyweight champion.

Aliakbari suffered the same fate that night, losing his second-straight bout via knockout to the Russian juggernaut. After nearly a year away from the circle, he returned at ONE on Prime Video 1, scoring a knockout of his own against Mauro Cerilli. He’ll look to make it two in a row against a true MMA icon in Brandon Vera.

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Brandon Vera is excited to return to Manila for ONE 164

As ONE Championship heads to ONE 164, they will bring a slew of Filipino talent with them to the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila. During an interview with the CNN Sports Desk, Brandon Vera shared his excitement about returning to the Philippines for a stacked ONE Championship event:

“You know, I'm so fired up. We haven't been to the Philippines in a few years due to COVID. And we've come back with a spectacular card. Essentially, the theme is the Philippines versus the world.”

The Philippines vs. the world is the perfect way to describe Saturday’s highly-anticipated event. Not only will the crowd in Manila be treated to the return of Brandon Vera, but they will also see multiple members of Team Lakay in action, including Geje Eustaquio, Jeremy Pactiw, and Jenelyn Olsim.

Fans will also see hometown hero Joshua ‘The Passion’ Pacio step into the main event spotlight to defend his ONE strawweight world championship against ‘The Monkey God’ Jarred Brooks.