The Truth: Is Brandon Vera Good Enough to Beat Randy Couture?

Tonight, in Manchester, England (broadcast on SPIKE TV at 8 PM EST) we will finally learn the truth about Brandon “The Truth” Vera. Is Vera the top prospect that showed so much potential that he proclaimed his intention to win the heavyweight and light heavyweight titles-and no one laughed? Or is Vera the guy that has plodded through a series of frustrating decisions and losses, the guy who seemingly lost his killer edge after an ill-timed layoff after a dispute with his agent Mark Dion cost him a year of his career? No one is entirely sure, but make no mistake, Vera has been given the perfect opportunity to reestablish himself as a UFC star. His opponent, the legendary Randy Couture, is a big name, but one that is in his late forties and very beatable. Vera is fighting not just to win, but for his reputation and his future in a sport that isn’t very friendly to fighter’s who fail to live up to their potential.

“It’s going to be a fight. It’s going to be a dog fight,” Vera told the media in a conference call earlier this week. “I mean Randy wants to win. I want to win. We’re both really well-conditioned athletes who have very technical backgrounds in everything we do in MMA. I’m going to go out there and give everything I am.”

Couture and Vera have plenty in common. Both are former Greco-Roman wrestling standouts who spent much of their UFC careers as undersized heavyweights, before seeing their careers reinvented at 205 pounds. For Couture, success at light heavyweight was immediate. He won the interim light heayweight title in his very first match at 205 pounds, beating Chuck Liddell at UFC 43, then dispatched long time champion Tito Ortiz at UFC 44 to unite the titles. Vera’s adjustment to the new weight class has taken some time, but he feels he’s finally hitting his mark.

“All I’m actually trying to do every day is just improve. Become faster. Become stronger. Become more elusive,” Vera said. “Become better all around. Have better technique and clean up – clean up the things that are lacking. And nothing has changed since day one. I figured out the 205 division a little bit better since I dropped down. The pace is a lot faster, I think, than the heavyweight pace. And I’m in it now. I’m in it. I’m used to it now. So nothing’s really changed. We just keep trying to improve every day.”

While both men have wrestling backgrounds, Vera is a more well rounded fighter. While Couture attempts to fight out of the clinch, using his wrestlign to control his opponent while he scores with punches in close, Vera employs an attack from a distance. Using his long limbs, he batters opponents with straight punches and legkicks. How Couture gets inside Vera’s attack will be the key to the fight. One of the most cerebral fighters in the game, Couture always seems to pinpoint an opponent’s weakness. To Vera, the grey matter between Couture’s ears is more intimidating than any of his physical skills.

“You know probably the biggest thing I have to worry about is him being a great tactician,” Vera said. “He’s always been able to pick his opponents apart in any area. And he always devises a good game plan and he sticks to it. So that’s probably been the hardest thing because it’s going to be kind of like a chess match.Like his wrestling, his clinch, is almost beyond compare so that’s something we focused on. And obviously our striking and everything else we’ve still been keeping up on. But Randy’s a tactician and that’s going to be the hardest part is trying to get him out of his game if that’s possible.”

Vera and Couture headline a full night of fights. Mike Swick battles Dan Hardy to determine the next contender for Georges St. Pierre’s welterweight title and British sensation Michael Bisping tries to get back on track after a devastating knockout loss to Dan Henderson at UFC 100 by taking it to Denis Kang.

Television Bouts:
-Randy Couture vs. Brandon Vera
-Mike Swick vs. Dan Hardy
-Michael Bisping vs. Denis Kang
-James Wilks vs. Matt Brown
-Ross Pearson vs. Aaron Riley