Can Brandon Vera defy all odds and pin Mauricio Rua to become the number one contender? – UFC News
There is just a possibility that Brandon can ascend to challenge Jon Jones for his light heavyweight title. The reason is Mauricio Rua. Vera is going through a pretty bad phase of his career.
Things were not the same at all especially when Vera started his mixed martial art and above all placed his foot in UFC. Vera was considered as one of the most promising prospects who were treated as the future of the promotion.
The tide changed altogether after Brandon’s unanimous decision loss to Tim Sylvia. Since then the American has never been able to generate a win streak. A glance at Vera’s resume shows that he has been in a total of 10 bouts after his famous Frank Mir-win.
Unfortunately, he has just won four of those bouts and over belligerents who most probably do not even reside in the top 10 divisional ranks. Moreover, his recent dismal performance and below par unanimous decision win over Eliot Marshall, who was in his
second UFC bout and was not considered as a lethal threat at all, is evident of the fact that Brandon is losing his edge.
With all these factors, especially while keeping in mind the devastating lose-scenario in last 10 bouts, critics are raising questions as to how come Vera can be given a title shot in fact how can he become a part of even a title eliminator bout?
Apart from above mentioned concerns, the announcement is most probably made while considering Rua and not Vera. Mauricio is a talented brawler who proudly secures the fourth spot in the divisional rankings.
Furthermore, Rua is well known for being a classy talent-annihilator as he has pinned almost all the big names in and outside the division. Also known as ‘Shogun’, Rua boasts wins over Lyoto Machida, Chuck Liddell, Alistair Overeem, Mark Coleman and many
others.
In addition to above, Rua is coming off a close unanimous decision loss to Dan Henderson, a clash which not only won the Fight of the year 2011 award but also secured the Fight of the night honour.
One thing is for sure, since everybody especially Dana White knows that Rua is the obvious winner and he will come out of the octagon victorious (while keeping in view above dominating facts), the UFC president announced the engagement to be a title eliminator
one with the winner challenging Jones for his precious gold.
The one question left is can Vera rise at the occasion or will he succumb to the bashing of a legend killer? To some extent, there are certain factors that though do not corroborate Brandon’s win probability yet do give a slight ray of hope.
When Vera came in UFC, he immediately constructed a four-bout win streak with one of the opponent being the former two time world champion Frank Mir. Everyone was in shock to see the Californian create havoc.
At that very moment, every keen eye witnessed that Vera has the ability to withstand even a powerful standing attack, an aspect that not much belligerents possess. It is his solid standup stance that might create a bit difference against Rua.
Rua is a knockout specialist who runs away from submission or grappling scenarios as if he is allergic to them. Mauricio’s straight forward knockout style can only be countered by a man who has either an equal capability or is ahead of Rua in throwing powerful
punches with precision and speed while holding the ground firmly.
Other than the stand up game, Vera is just a bump a speed breaker for Rua who by his experience can easily walk through it without even dropping a single drop of sweat. In a nut shell, the opportunity is really a blessing in disguise for Vera. At the same
time, for Rua it is a jackpot or lottery won on the Christmas Eve.
Vera needs to come up with a plan, a win is inevitable at the moment otherwise Brandon will have to face Dana’s wrath.
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