In the past 3 years, Brandon Vera has had more inconsistent performances than Paulo Filho. That’s pretty rare. You can even throw Badr Hari onto that Olympic podium of potential-wasting blackbelts who have given degenerate gamblers the most heart attacks across all disciplines. Ask any true MMA fan (or journalist) their opinions of those 3 fighters, chances are it’ll sound something like: “It depends which version of [insert fighter name here] shows up.”
After losing unanimous decisions to Tim Silvia, Keith Jardine, and Randy Couture, Brandon Vera made some pretty convincing statements about never letting a fight go to the judges again. He even had a stern message for the rest of the UFC Light Heavyweight division after his last fight. Unfortunately, Jon Jones isn’t buying it:
“I think Brandon Vera, with all his trash talking, I think he’s really trying to convince himself that he still has it. The Randy Couture fight, he’s like, ‘Oh, I’m going out there to hurt people now; I’m ready to knock people out, and I’m going to be the old Brandon Vera. I really think it’s something mental that’s going on with him, and he’s trying to convince himself that he can win this fight. He’s really talking to himself. His trash talk has no effect on me. But as far as him saying he’s so much more experienced than me, I have a much different style than anything he’s ever experienced, so I don’t really think his experience is going to be too big of a factor in there.”
Jon Jones just took Brandon Vera’s 8 year’s of pro-MMA experience and made it sound like one big psychological “defense mechanism”. If you watch tonight’s weigh-ins, you’ll probably even watch ‘Bones’ Jones show Vera the weirdest stare down he’ll ever have to deal with in his career. This might be the first time reverse psychology plays an active role in the main event of a UFC. Let’s just hope these two keep their elbows flying legally this time. [Source]
