“This is gonna be a good one” - Brandon Vera calls on support of Filipino and American fans

At ONE 164, former heavyweight world champion Brandon Vera will return after over a year and a half away from competition. ‘The Truth’ has a huge fight on his hands after suffering back-to-back defeats. He's looking to come back in a big way.

Fortunately for the former champion, the event on December 3 will take place in front of his home fans, a scenario that has been massively important for Vera in his career.

Prior to his two recent losses, Vera produced four consecutive wins under the ONE Championship banner, with all of them being first-round finishes in Manila.

In an interview with The MMA Superfan, Brandon Vera spoke about the support that he gets from both Filipino and American fans, which spurs him on when he competes:

“That’s where we’re at Philippines, that’s where we’re at Fil-Ams, that’s where we’re at America. This is gonna be a good one. It’s either we’re all in or we’re all out. Either way, it’s gonna be good times.”

Check out the full interview below:

At ONE 164, Vera finds himself in a must-win fight if he is going to put himself in a position to win back the heavyweight world championship. The former titleholder will take on decorated Iranian wrestler Amir Aliakbari, who is coming off a TKO win at ONE on Prime Video 1.

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Brandon Vera says Amir Aliakbari learned the hard way - “It’s best to keep your mouth shut”

Former ONE heavyweight world champion Brandon Vera has been on a collision course with his next opponent Amir Aliakbari since the Iranian debuted with ONE Championship in early 2021.

The very confident Aliakbari came into the promotion on a great win streak and was immediately looking to take on the division's top dog. He immediately started to mention Vera’s name as he hunted for the world championship.

Unfortunately for the rising contender, Aliakbari suffered back-to-back first-round knockouts after winning his debut, pushing back his progress significantly.

Now that the two are scheduled to face each other, Brandon Vera spoke about how he felt about Aliakbari back then and the lessons he was forced to learn in his interview with The MMA Superfan.

‘The Truth’ said:

“It did add motivation from the very beginning when he first came at me hard. But Aliakbari has learned, through his own trials and tribulations, it’s best to keep your mouth shut and just prepare for the event.”

Both fighters now find themselves in very different positions to when Aliakbari was trying to get into a fight with Vera. The Iranian was able to bounce back from his two defeats with a second-round TKO over Mauro Cerilli at ONE on Prime Video 1.

For Brandon Vera, this is a very dangerous fight after his time away from competition following back-to-back TKO losses of his own.